Site Stats

The past month's site stats for HCT Sucks are quite revealing. It appears that the 'Three Uniteds' - States, Kingdom, and Emirates - have the most interest in this site, notching up more than 1500 hits together. What's strange here is that, despite this blog being blocked in the UAE, more than 300 people are finding a way round it every month. Strange, perhaps, but not entirely surprising.

Entry                         Page Views

United States              791

United Kingdom         589

United Arab Emirates 329

Canada                      202

Australia                      97

Germany                     94

Thailand                      60

Kazakhstan                 48

Russia                         41

France                        40

South Africa                33

Phillipines                    25

Other countries           96

As can be seen from the above figures, the great majority of this blog's visitors come from English-speaking countries (not too surprising, as it's written in English!), which probably indicates that prospective employees are checking out the truth of the situation before making a decision to apply for a position. And maybe there are a few past HCT faculty there too, gleefully catching up on the demise of a past nemesis.

Anyway, with in excess of 2000 hits per month, this blog is going stronger than ever - now in its third year - despits its apparent 'banning' in the UAE itself. This fact itself is a testimony to this blog's status as an accurate measure of the state of things in King Kamali's rotten empire. On this blog, you will always get the unvarnished truth about HCT, and this information acts as a crucial counterbalance to all the bullshit and half-truths peddled by HCT's marketing and recruitment stooges.

So once again, we would like to repeat our pledge to remove this blog as soon as the gratuities that were illegally denied us are paid in full. And that could be the most effective 300k that HCT pays out next year!

HCT Job Alert!

Looking for a teaching position at HCT? If so, you may well have seen the following advertisement.

Teachers needed: Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

Posted By: Higher Colleges of Technology
Date: Thursday, 11 October 2012, at 12:47 p.m.

English Faculty
The Higher Colleges of Technology is a key component of the United Arab Emirates’ strategy to be part of the global marketplace, to develop and diversify its economy, and to maintain a unique cultural heritage. Established in 1988, the HCT is the UAE’s largest Higher Education Institution with more than 19,000 students enrolled at its 17 men’s and women’s colleges across the country. It is helping to shape the future by preparing young Emiratis for productive, satisfying roles in the local workforce and the global economy.
It is an exciting organization that has employees from over 60 different countries, including the UAE, USA, UK, India, South Africa, Lebanon, Australia, the Philippines, Canada and Pakistan. These employees are drawn by the adventure, travel and excitement of living in one of the youngest, fastest developing countries in the world, a country of rich diversity, of great tolerance and of progress.
Faculty members are responsible for providing effective instruction in English Foreign Language (EFL) at all levels, from beginner to advanced. Curriculum is taught to second language learners within a student-centric learning environment that fosters respect for students, their culture, and traditions. Emphasis is placed on Aviation industry specific vocabulary terms, speaking and listening are emphasized as that is the mode of communication mostly utilized by pilots.
The position is for the Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

However, you really need to be aware of the following item of information too:

Anybody thinking about applying for one these HCT jobs at Khalifa Air College is seriously advised to think again.

The long and the short of it is that the department has been in an increasing state of disarray ever since a certain Amy Subaey took over as Supervisor of the HCT Military Languages Programme in Aug 2011. Within a few weeks of her appointment, she had totally antagonised her whole teaching team - an antagonism which from the word go was intense, instantaneous and uniform across the whole teaching team. As the year progressed, the feeling went from bad to worse: she brooked no opposition, and by the end of the year (June 2012) she terminated the contracts of SIX long standing teachers with good track records at HCT (i.e. half the teaching team).

The department has been short staffed for the last six months, with the result that classes get doubled up, or just don't get taught, and two teachers have been absent for substantial periods over the past term, undergoing treatment for clinical depression. Most of those who have been recruited on casual contracts are getting out as fast as they can go, and those who are there on regular HCT contracts are mostly trying to get transfers to other HCT departments.

The chances of any improvement in the situation are pretty slim as student numbers are set to rise again in March, but they haven't even got enough teachers to cover the existing classes.

Well done, Amy Subaey - another candidate for punchinthefacebook.com!

Spot the Difference!

HCT's cheating ways have been exposed many times on these pages, but the latest scam is truly outstanding. According to a recently received email, HCT is guilty of wilfully misleading its own accreditation board! And just WHO would have thought that, eh?!

*****

According to the ACBSP accreditation standards, faculty teaching loads are supposed to be about half what many HCT lecturers put in. The organisation’s accreditation manual clearly states the following:

Teaching Loads: The appropriate teaching load for a full time faculty member at ACBSP Accredited Baccalaureate Institutions has historically been limited to not more than 12 credit hours per semester, with appropriate release time granted for administrative duties or for graduate teaching. Overload teaching has been prohibited as a business unit policy, and has been accepted by ACBSP only under emergency circumstances. 

However, those who were teaching last year at Dubai Women's College, Higher College of Technology in the United Arab Emirates, faced a permanent (not overload) teaching load of 20 credit hours per semester. A faculty member there can typically expect to handle five four-credit courses. All of the full-time business faculty members taught 20 hours per semester, and some instructors taught even more.  This was not an emergency circumstance, but was ‘business as usual’ – i.e., they were bullied into taking on more hours and courses.  Nor was this an isolated event, as almost all of the other HCT campuses follow suit

At the Business Department of DWC, for the two semesters of the 2011-2012 school year, the following instructors taught 20 or more credits during one semester: Sanaa, Russell, Selvan, Sudip, Ces, Gareth, Neil, Ross, Debby, Graham, Indrani, Sudipa, Karl, Sita, Tamir. For this teaching load, all instructors are paid the base salary - for 20 credits. However, some instructors taught 24 credits in one semester: Humayan, Ces, Jihad, Patrick.

One thing to note when looking at the Business Department schedule is that some faculty members also taught in other departments. For example, there was one instructor who taught a microeconomics course to Information Technology students. The Business Department schedule does not, therefore, include every course that Business Faculty teach, - another way that HCT can mislead its accreditors.

Of course, it’s common knowledge that DWC violates more standards than this. And yet, while that accreditation has been granted, HCT continues to assign 20 hours.  In fact, some faculty members teach 24 and 28 hours to fill in for faculty shortages – especially when faculty get fired.

In short, HCT was awarded a ten-year ACBSP accreditation in 2008, yet they still continue to assign a twenty credit load in 2012 - in clear contravention of ACBSP rules.

 So well done to the 'ethical' HCT - and to more dodgy business exposed by Suede Oasis!!

A Gallant addition to these pages...

Just last month I received another nomination for the HCT’s ever-lengthening Hall of Shame. Perhaps HCT should open its very own ‘Faculty of Dishonesty’ to accommodate them all?

***

One person who disgusts many people is Dr Monica Gallant, the head of the business department at Dubai Women's College. I once overheard her trying to convince a student to not drop out. This student had been interested in taking Tourism and Event Management courses, even though they are not in fact offered. The college website lists Tourism and Event Management as a major, but no courses have been offered, due to insufficient enrolment. Monica told the student that Tourism and Event Management courses would be offered in the following semester, and the student should continue to attend college. In truth, the program had already been scrapped. No more courses - at all. Period. The information on the website is, in fact, mere window-dressing. Or rather, a pack of lies. However, Monica still tried to 'sell' the non-existent program, forcefully and aggressively. You would have thought she was selling a used car.

A recurring problem in the business school is plagiarism. Students at DWC plagiarize papers to get passing grades without doing the required work. Many students have poor English-speaking and writing skills, and will turn in these purchased papers. Monica's brilliant solution was to tell the faculty to pretend that a fictional 'review committee' existed. She asked faculty members to tell students that this fake 'review committee' would not accept a plagiarized assignment. The faculty, however, refused to employ institutional dishonesty to tackle student dishonesty. Monica clearly lacks integrity, and was genuinely surprised that faculty refused to go along with her fabrication.

She's like ‘Miss Piggy’ at ADWC - porcine, delusional, self-absorbed, over-aggressive, and ambitious to an absurd degree. She is more concerned about how other administrators perceive her than she is in doing an ethical, effective job. However, unlike Miss Piggy, Monica is creepy, dishonest to faculty and students, has stringy greasy hair, and tells lies to save her bacon (pardon the pun).

***

So there you have it - another fine example of HCT's 'management muck'. Do you have your own favorite management tyrant, stool pigeon, or lickspittle to nominate? Don't hold back there!

UPDATE: I received an important addition to the story of life at DWC just today. Enjoy this one too!

DWC's Business faculty are expected to 'teach' students through pointless socializing activities like games and field trips to the shopping mall, and maybe a guest speaker, as long as he/she is entertaining. This reminds many of us of Mary Poppins - a trip to the park, visit Dad at the bank, visit an old person, sing a few songs, play some games, and then have a dance with a chimney sweep. Yet at HCT, the nanny, Mary Poppins, needs to have a PhD, or at least a Masters degree or two.

However, the worst thing about the place is that the students know that they can complain to the head of the department and swiftly get the faculty member into trouble. The students will outrgeously lie doing this, and get away with it easily. The head of the department, our dear Monica, believes these unethical girls at their word and will reprimand a business faculty member without a second thought. She hates for a problem to go to the Dean or the School Director, and will do anything to not look bad in front of these two morons.

The Student Counselor, Fatma Thani, is odious. Actually she is the Supervisor of Student Affairs at DWC, but she's just a stool pigeon who works for the head scumballs in Abu Dhabi. She's an Emirati, of course, and always assumes that her little darlings aren't treated well enough by the mean Western teachers. The administrators go poo poo in their pants when she's involved, mainly because of her contacts in Abu Dhabi.  She seems to run the place by way of threat. She is pure evil.

HCT - a place of desperation?

The latest epistle to enter Suede's inbox is this candid appraisal of life at ADMC, from a recent 'deportee'. Mind you, after reading this, you have to ask yourself - would anybody actually want to work there now?

*******

Over the past few years, HCT has become a slum. There are so many unhappy people just biding their time here, finding ways to cope, but not enjoying any job fulfillment. The English program has been further dumbed down to a curriculum based solely on books, where teachers are dictated to, told what to do, and even what to wear. Nowadays, working in ADMC’s J-block is a constant reminder of where you are and where the students are in the eyes of the system – it smells, it’s overcrowded, and a constant in-your-face reminder that you are one step from being a car washer.

Educating is no longer at the center of the college’s purpose, and it is the (former) director at ADMC whom I guess is the source of misery - a scrutinizing director who only seems able to have a duty thru the administration of his absurd 'dress code'. In short, he is (was) pretty pathetic. HCT has acquired a non-professional, non-education centered atmosphere, where teachers feel like factory workers and the lowest of the low. Unfortunately, one has to find ways to survive in this autocratic system. It is a very unfulfilling job, and mostly we feel hated.

At work, I also feel the profile of those recruited has become much lower. The English departments now feature fewer and fewer first language speakers. The atmosphere is poor, not what I experienced as true faculty back home. There is no longer any enrichment. Now it’s a matter of having to step in line, be subservient, subordinate yourself, and hopefully clue in to the very few who do want to learn something and enjoy some of the students upon whom you know you made a difference and sparked a fire or opened their eyes ... yes, there are a few.

So much here in the UAE is a farce, a showcase, unsustainable and very sad indeed. It’s a hollow shell, with a population that does not value productivity. A rentier system that has created mini lords who are fortunate to live with so much wealth they can live like in the ancient Greco-Roman empire, feudal lords or landed gentry symbiotically. If only they were educated, informed, so that something showed beyond flat screens and BMW's, and our students’ favorite hobby - sleeping. Museums are being built for the blind. I would like to think it would change, and the populace could be brought forward culturally, but there is little sign of that among the majority. It is sad in a pitiful way, if not desperate - and HCT is a reflection of it all.

A Captain Retires...

So, farewell then

Doctor Simon Jones

Captain of the ‘Happy Ship’

Called ADMC

You have deserted your boat

For a land-locked regime

A ‘Puppet President’

You will surely be

In the middle of the steppe

Your veritable ‘Elephant’s Graveyard’

Will welcome you warmly

And freeze your balls off

The 'Dr Evil' Popularity Poll - results, results!

The not-so-recent poll about Farid Ohan, Sharjah's very own 'Dr Evil', revealed that the aged cross-dressing windbag (that's him in the piccy!) does have a few supporters at HCT. However, when we say 'a few', we probably mean just 'few', instead. As in, erm ... just about 12%. The results below clearly speak for themselves, I suppose. From a rather poor turnout this time, with only 65 intrepid souls daring to risk their jobs by voting on their boss, more than 85% think he's some sort of evil bugger - which is absolutely right!

How Evil is Sharjah's 'Dr Evil' (Farid Ohan)?

Evil beyond words	28 (43%)
More evil than you think	19 (29%)
Just plain ol' evil	5 (7%)
Lucifer's toerag	5 (7%)
He's more of a sprite, actually	8 (12%)

Anyway, that's enough about him, the old gasbag. The next poll regards HCT's very own 'Philosopher Royal', the dynamic and exciting Sheikh Nahyan (HESN), whose mere words can send an HCT conference into an electrified frenzy of anticipation. However, what are His Excrecency's actual academic qualifications? Is he an intellectual giant, or more of a mental midget? Our readers are invited to 'place their bets' by ticking the relevant box alongside! 

Meanwhile, there have been a couple of recent popular additions to HCT's very own 'village stocks', namely punchinthefacebook.com. Just click on the name and give a pasting to another HCT Sharjah potentate, Lauralee Kilgour , who has attracted more than 17,000 admiring facial wallops, not to mention a handful of appropriate comments. There's also HCT Al Ain's Essam Hamdi, who appears to a good deal less unpopular, with fewer than 2,000 bruises on his smug little face. So, please pop over there and pay respects to a man that is, according to some accounts, 'a devil on the loose'! Maybe he's one of Fat Freddy's acolytes!!

HCT Interview Experience.

The lengthy message below popped on Dave's ESL Cafe just today. I'm reposting it here in its entirety, as (a) it may disappear soon, and (b) I could never have put it better myself. The fact that HCT is coming across as an 'Evil Empire' even at the interview stage indicates that its final breaths are a lot closer than many of us thought.

Enjoy!!

So I finally have some experience to add to this forum. FINALLY! Mind you, mine only consists of a brief interview at the 2012 TESOL convention in the U.S.

I've never worked in the Gulf and certainly cannot personally relate to the stories I've heard about HCT as an organization. I will say that they present a very professional image at TESOL at least and look as though they have the potential to be a wonderful employer.

However... that said, I had my suspicions confirmed before I even met my interviewers when I approached an officiator at the check-in counter of the job market place to ask him what time I should arrive for my interview which was later in the day. As it was my first time at TESOL, I just wanted to make sure that one, I found the venue easily and could arrive early and two, I was in fact on their list for an afternoon interview.

When the man could not find my name on the list, he asked me who I was scheduled to interview with. When I told him, he rolled his eyes and sighed before informing me that HCT was the worst recruiter he'd ever dealt with in his many years of working the job marketplace at TESOL. He advised to me to arrive not one minute earlier than my scheduled interview time and told me to expect to wait possibly up to 30 minutes past my scheduled time as they always ran late. And he also warned me to expect moments of awkwardness between the HCT recruiters and the TESOL job fair employees as they apparently 'go at' one another from time to time due to these delays.

Well... a friend of mine also interviewed with them earlier that day and was actually taken back before her scheduled time. I decided to show up early anyway (no reason for me to behave unprofessionally). I then found out that they'd had several no shows for interviews earlier in the afternoon. The employee told me that this was also not unusual for them but rarely happened with other recruiters/employers at the job fair.

So... the interview.
First of all, I must say that my impression of them is only attributed to the two people who interviewed me face to face and the woman who shared email exchanges with me prior to my arrival at TESOL. I did not apply to them. They actually found me registered for the job market place and contacted me with an interview offer. They even went so far as to schedule it and ask me to reply and confirm. I didn't feel that I had anything to lose by confirming.

I was met by two 'members' of HCT from two different schools in UAE- one male and one female. I will not disclose names or nationalities. One was kind and agreeable to me, the other, quite the opposite. Their interview questions were clearly scripted and did not reflect any semblance of 'filtering' for qualified instructors. No questions about pedagogy, grammar analysis, learner linguistic challenges and so on, as I'd expected and hoped.

The interview was recorded, which I thought was a a very good idea considering their size and application pool. But that is really the only positive thing I can say about it. As I mentioned, one of the interviewers was so terse with me that I dare say he/she was borderline abrasive. It almost seemed personal. Perhaps I misread him/her, but I doubt it. I have quite a bit of experience with overseas interviews.

The focus of my interview with HCT seemed to be conflict: office conflict among colleagues, between me and my employer and between me and my students. Aside from my students, I have no examples of conflict to speak of.

The interviewer who seemed to be not that keen on me from the offset of the interview also didn't really seem to appreciate my lack of experience with 'office drama'. I'll let all you experienced HCT'ers draw your own conclusions from this.

There is quite a bit more that I can say about this experience, but I think I will close with an observation that out of all of the Gulf employers, HCT seemed to be the most involved in TESOL USA. They had 2 well-known presenters, many sessions for participants and apparently had students brought in to help boost their marketing as well. It became very obvious to me though that their efforts to recruit teachers/faculty/students were not met with a very rewarding or interested response.

My friend who also interviewed with them (and had a more positive experience) noted that there were more HCT people present and active at the conference than interested applicants/attendees. Apparently they'd booked a hall meant for 200 for a planned presentation on the benefits of living in UAE and working for HCT, and only had about 10 people.

And so ends my experience with HCT, as it were. Just thought I'd share that here. For those of you wondering if I am holding out for a job offer from them, I'm not. Otherwise I wouldn't dream of posting such comments here two days after my interview.

I find it all a bit disheartening though as I've been watching HCT for years since completing my MA TESOL and hoping for a chance to work for them. A few years ago when I found out that things had taken a turn for the worse, I gave up on the idea. Fortunately, my experience and qualifications have opened doors for much better opportunities both abroad and here in the U.S.

Again, this post only reflects my very brief face to face experience with this group. I've heard of a number of other teachers who have worked for them and been quite satisfied with the experience!

When I say a number though, I do only mean a small one...

Poll Result (updated)

The result of the three-month long poll on Dr Kamali's role as Vice-chancellor of HCT was almost entirely predictable, given the recent worsening of salary and conditions and the well-publicised deep dissatisfaction of HCT faculty. However, the fact that Dr K only managed to garner the support of a shade over one in ten indicates that his lack of popularity is more widespread than previously thought.

Do you have confidence in Dr Tayeb al-Kamali as Vice Chancellor of HCT?

Yes 48 (11%)

No 381 (88%)

Votes so far: 429 - [Poll closed]

Equally importantly, how are his acolytes faring, over on the unofficial HCT village stocks? Not too well either, it seems.

Dr Evil, a.k.a. Farid Ohan, the Beast of Sharjah, has attracted a mighty 72,700 blows to his repulsive head, making him the most despised HCT Goon - at present. However, his vulgar crown is likely to be stolen by the inimitable sociopath SiJo, Dr Simon Jones, the Ogre of Ebbw Dhabi Mens College, whose vile visage has been biffed almost 62,500 times thus far.

King Tubby himself is deemed worth a mere 38,800 whacks, and following closely behind him in the unpopularity stakes is Dr Robert 'RaK' Moulton, with just over 37,000 assaults on his ugly mug.

Other popular punchbags are Ged Ryan, who has collected a healthy 26,400 smacks in his unattractive gob, and the much-loathed Christine Luscombe-Whyte (The Claw!), with a very credible 23,000 gouges. Well done to the two of you!

Now, the big questions is: who is to feature in the next poll?

Suggestions below, please!

Update:

An anonymous follower has recently offered the following plausible explanation for Dr Evil's deep unpopularity.

"Apparently, Farid's father passed away when he was very young, some 9 or 10 years old, and the matter, quite understandably, had a very hard effect on him. As a result, Farid became a very nosy little brat and started to bully younger kids, on the grounds that he had information on them and would threaten to report their purported activities. Before long he had really become a top flight jerk.

Reportedly he only became very bright at the secondary and college levels of his education. However, he was never well liked, and he continues in his petty and spitefully moronic ways, being mostly without friends. Clearly though, he obviously has plenty of authority and credibility with HCT's powers that be, who are most likely to be relatively mentally challenged themselves. As I said, he might be smart, but he is certainly not brilliant - otherwise, why work in the Emirates?"