Friday 20 July 2012

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.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

HCT no longer recruits 'teachers' or 'lecturers', preferring 'tutors' or 'trainers' - as in 'dog-trainers', I feel.

There's no autonomy, not a bit, and faculty members are treated by the management without respect, as if they are disposable hand-towels.

It's a dreadful place. If you've signed a contract to work there this coming academic year, please reconsider.

Anthony J.Solloway said...

As some of you might have already learned, I, Anthony J. Solloway, have been appointed to run education in the UAE. From this point on, only British teachers who speak Estuary English, read Chomsky every day and have a minimum of 25 identities on Dave's ESL Cafe shall be employed at HCT or for that matter anywhere else in the UAE.

Anonymous said...

This ADMC escapee points out something absurd - that people who don't speak native English are teaching college English. One English instructor at DWC took the students on a field trip - to the shopping mall! They went to a bookstore at the shopping mall! This was hailed as a huge accomplishment.

I think the students want some kind of Mary Poppins who doesn't teach, but likes to play games, go to the park, feed the birds, and make every day a magical wonderland. I earned a PhD for this? Do I want to be Mary Poppins, PhD? Yeccch.

Here's another absurdity - instructors with advanced degrees in quantitative subjects are teaching students how calculate percentages.

The students bitch to the administrators about the teachers, and the teachers become the house servants. Result - the fourth year business students can't do basic algebra. In some cases the teachers have to let one of the students explain, in Arabic, how to solve a simple equation.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely spot-on. I did my three years and could not wait to get out. Education in the UAE is a fraud and a charade. Don't go there at all if you truly value your work and expect others to do the same.

Anonymous said...

here!here!

The Middle East is burning, why the f*** would anyone stay there or even go? Think about this: What do you get when you have a whole lot of young people who receive an education that ain't worth crap and can't find jobs or meet their own expectations? Who do you think they are going to blame? Believe me it won't be the teachers or the expats. Its coming to the UAE, mark my words. In may not happen in the next 5 years, but its coming.

Get your money and get the f** out.

Anonymous said...

Yeh, I'd give the place another 3 years max, even less if the world's current economic woes worsen.

There's still time to put in your notice and quit by Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Hey, who made the recent addition to the HCT goons on punch in the facebook?

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/punch/dubai-womens-college-uae/scary-monica-gallant

Surely the highly esteemed Dr Gallant from DWC doesn't deserve this?!?

Anonymous said...

That ho-bag is craaaazzzzy, with bugged out psycho eyes! She has the most irritating habit of disagreeing with anything someone might say. Thank god I won't have the pleasure of "working" with her anymore!

Student said...

wow,so much hate for hct

i didn't know that the teachers hate us, but i have a suggestion

why don't you quit? i know your in UAE Because of the money but if u think u deserve a better job go a head and quit.i didn't know that the staff were mean and rude to each other but i guess its normal.
everyone wants a good boss and friendly co-workers.

having a canadian,british or american teacher that doesn't mean they are smarter than us.if u think im wrong compare the student in my college with the student in any private university and thats a prove that u didn't do great job.i can tell you lots of stories about my stupid teachers.its very rarly to find a good teacher in hct, u think that we r spoiled we go and complain and our wishes come true no not really.

i don't think i can look into my teacher face after what i read in your blog.

some of the comments were really mean against my conrty and it just made me realize that u don't deserve what ur getting.for god sake u have rights more than the locals.can u ask for more?!

just say thank god and stop being childish..

Go back to ur country if u do not like it here. No one is forcing you.

Anonymous said...

The death of HCT?

This year, 18,400 students applied for places in UAE governments institutes of higher education: ZU, UAEU and HCT. However, since HCT has recently started calling itself a university, 3,520 students who might otherwise have been accepted into the Diploma program in HCT will instead be accepted into ADVETI. How many of these rejected students will accept what is perceived as a lower-ranking access to higher education remains to be seen. The government is doing its best to disguise this vast decrease by proclaiming that 14, 750 students have been accepted to federal universities AND INSTITUTES (my capitals, not theirs).

Employment prospects are therefore bleak at HCT since it relinquished its founding vision of providing quality education for all Emiratis along the lines of community colleges. There will be lots of jobs at ADVETI if the offers of a place are taken up by students. However, the disappearance of the Diploma program means the loss of HCT´s core population of students – the ones who were being given a chance in life to make up for several years of poor primary and secondary education and to become ready for work. There is also the failure of the foundations programs. Fewer and fewer students are passing into higher programs. They have either failed out or dropped out in despair.


HCT did not compete back in the good old days with universities such as ZU and UAEU, but instead it developed a highly respected specialised environment in which to prepare students for the world of work. One of the former chancellors understood this mission perfectly. As J H said in HCT´s own publication, Al Rawi

How relevant are
community/technical colleges,
compared with universities or
in-house business and
technical training schemes?

JH: Very relevant, since they
prepare students for life and their
chosen professions. Colleges of
technology specialise in building
lifelong learning attitudes, and help to
produce graduates who adapt easily to
the fast-changing needs of the workplace.
So, if we’re going to make a difference in
science and engineering, it must start at
the college level.

The diploma level goals were suitably modest, in line with the pedagogically rock-solid position of taking the learner´s current level as the starting point and then leading him or her forward at a pace the majority of students could handle.

There´s nothing wrong with HCT´s stated Diploma outcomes. They stand up to international scrutiny. So where did it all go wrong? The higher diploma outcomes were conceived along similar lines although considerably more ambitious.

Where did it all go so badly wrong?

Tayeb Kamali said...

"wow,so much hate for hct

i didn't know that the teachers hate us, but i have a suggestion

why don't you quit? i know your in UAE Because of the money but if u think u deserve a better job go a head and quit.i didn't know that the staff were mean and rude to each other but i guess its normal.
everyone wants a good boss and friendly co-workers.

having a canadian,british or american teacher that doesn't mean they are smarter than us.if u think im wrong compare the student in my college with the student in any private university and thats a prove that u didn't do great job.i can tell you lots of stories about my stupid teachers.its very rarly to find a good teacher in hct, u think that we r spoiled we go and complain and our wishes come true no not really.

i don't think i can look into my teacher face after what i read in your blog.

some of the comments were really mean against my conrty and it just made me realize that u don't deserve what ur getting.for god sake u have rights more than the locals.can u ask for more?!

just say thank god and stop being childish..

Go back to ur country if u do not like it here. No one is forcing you."

O.K....

How's this? Yer a spoiled idiot and yer spellin', lack of grammer, and basic selfishness bears it out.

Princess, yer a joke and everybody but you knows it. Just try to use yer useless joke of an HCT cert outside the Gulf for anything other than something to wipe yer fanny on! Ha!

You people are a joke and the only ones who don't know it is YOU!!!

Tayeb Kamali said...

Look yer teacher in the face?

Ha! Jes' try lookin' up from that laptop that they gave you to "learn" from!

Yeah! Jes' stop pming for just a moment so the teacher doesn't have to keep repeating his/herself ad naseum!

What an ignorant jerk!

Anonymous said...

to the student who commented on this site. Please understand that the vast majority of students and staff at HCT do not share the views of the people writing on this site. I recently retired after several years of working at HCT campuses. I was treated very well and enjoyed the students and admired their desire to succeed. HCT tries very hard to hire good and committed teachers. Most of the teachers hired are committed to your success and work hard to provide you with a good education. Sometimes poor teachers are asked to leave. Those kind of teachers write on blogs like this one but believe me, your good teachers are as disgusted with this nonesense as you are.

Tayeb Kamali said...

Sycophant...

Student said...

i just wanna say something for the ugly old lady above me.

No wonder hct fired you. thank god.

and yeah my english isn't great but u know what? im proud of my self because i can understand every word coming out from ur filthy mouth.

And hey at least i didn't live in another country for 1000 years and still can't speak their language.

so, who's the stupid? Bitch.

Anonymous said...

U mean 'Jo the Pro" got the boot? The faculty stool pigeon?!? U just made my day!!!

Anonymous said...

The warst peopl in hct is manager, not help the student and not help the manny fantstic teachers. They just take the too big salary and do nothing only boss. Mangers not know how to teach. They are hate stay in class and teach, and they are hate hate hate the student and teacher. They want sit in office and make stupid plan and drink cofee all time. Too many bad manager in hct, cancel them and brang more of our fantastic teacher please, Sheikh Nayyan bin Mubarak Al Nayyan.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to see students posting on here. Hopefully they really are students. Glad to see they're asking questions.

Like is said, it is only a matter of time before the young people in the country start to get sick of expats and tyranny. The clock is ticking.

Richard Westaway said...

Can someone please tell me why HCT has the need to advertise on BBC TV (September 2012) and extol whatever virtues they think that they have as an institution of higher learning. After all, they draw all their students from the national pool and there is always a ready supply. Or is this just another ploy to big note themselves.

Steve Hatch said...

Exactly. Waving a giant flag makes even the smallest of midgets look big.

And HCT is now the least significant college (erm, sorry - university?) in the UAE, so they need to do SOMETHING to attract attention. Even the locals are turning their backs on the place - look at the enrolment figures for this academic year!

Anonymous said...

I always enjoyed being serious and showing decorum during the National (Anthem) Video. Frig the thought of standing up for that scheisse. How silly, all those proud retards surrounded by American military weaponry and basketballs, European wheelchairs, Egyptian cotton outfits and western designed and S Asian built buildings. It made me tremendously proud to not have an Emirati passport, that's for sure!

Anonymous said...

I think a new name is in order - the Sharjah Higher Institutes of Technology, i.e. the SHIT.

Where do you go to school? Hey man, where do you think I go? It's the SHIT!

Just landed a new lecturer job in the UAE! The campus is the SHIT!

Lots of potential.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Amazing to watch the UAE surveillance police state showing its true colours with the recent cancellation of the scheduled AUS and LSE conference on Bahrain and Arab Spring transitions. It is all reported in the Chronicle, and a great background article can be found here - http://www.opendemocracy.net/kristian-coates-ulrichsen/uae-holding-back-tide

Seems the views of Professor Ulrichsen aren't appreciated in the Gulf!

Now NYU needs to step up to the plate and cancel all those fraudulent HCT student programs. Where are the accreditors? The HCT teachers do all the work and the students get to act like they are actually scholars! It is a terrible fraud on a venerable institution (NYU, not the HCT!).

Anonymous said...

YES ........ where are the accreditors? Who are the committee members of the accreditation? What are they doing? Please WAKE UP AND OPEN UP your eyes accreditation committee!!!!!!!! All nonsense, rubbish is going on at HCT. Observe the quality of the majority of the students before granting the accreditation. Please thoroughly review how they pass the exams and their reports. Directors till the top mgt are liars, cheaters and the most unethical elements, let alone being professionals !!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

A pretty bad place, I'd say - while imprisoned there at the HCT I worked with a Palestinian/Australian guy who was importing Glock parts (triggers/firing pins/ slides), body armor, night vision goggles from the USA with shipping directly to the HCT! CID took his passport for a bit and then nothing happened afterwards. He skated. I can only imagine what he had in mind. This episode was a major reason for my departure.

Anonymous said...

"wow,so much hate for hct

i didn't know that the teachers hate us, but i have a suggestion

why don't you quit? i know your in UAE Because of the money but if u think u deserve a better job go a head and quit.i didn't know that the staff were mean and rude to each other but i guess its normal.
everyone wants a good boss and friendly co-workers.

having a canadian,british or american teacher that doesn't mean they are smarter than us.if u think im wrong compare the student in my college with the student in any private university and thats a prove that u didn't do great job.i can tell you lots of stories about my stupid teachers.its very rarly to find a good teacher in hct, u think that we r spoiled we go and complain and our wishes come true no not really.

i don't think i can look into my teacher face after what i read in your blog.

some of the comments were really mean against my conrty and it just made me realize that u don't deserve what ur getting.for god sake u have rights more than the locals.can u ask for more?!

just say thank god and stop being childish..

Go back to ur country if u do not like it here. No one is forcing you."

This is difficult to ignore --------

1) Whoever the student who wrote this .. my dear you may be a good student which I do not know. However, the vast majority of the students in HCT are LIARS, CHEATERS, AND THE LAZIEST elements who will do anything to complain to get free grades or getting the teachers into trouble or sometimes get fired with NOT having SUFFICIENT REASON. Of course, DIRECTORS are as LOOSERS as you are shit scared of their dreamed salaries which they can NEVER make it in their own country to begin with so these losers sided with you students to save their asses. Wake up and smell the coffee my little s**t head !!!! If you have to pay someone a very high salary to beg to entertain/babysit instead of educating you morons are already a sad case. Teachers are hired to educate, not to be your punch bags.

If you are that good, why don't you get out of your own pathetic country and start looking for an employment outside your country like the above person said .... I DARE YOU will not go anywhere. You will just get stuck in the corner and suck your thumb like a looser.

2) I am sure many would like to get out of your country but your unethical institution HCT tied them with one or the other non-sense bindings so many of them can not get out. HCT deceits these professionals with high salary and relocation allowances as yet good ones hardly stay. That should tell you something. Isn't it?

Do not assume that everyone is trying to stay. I am sure many want to get out of your pathetic country. However, it is too late to leave immediately after realizing and/or after risking their decent careers or relocating their families to UAE. People are stuck there by force, not by choice in many cases. They are not stupid like you. They are just giving the benefit of the doubt because these people are civilized. Am I wasting my time telling you thick head to think the other way around?

3) Also, don't assume that those who got fired are writing this. There are many who left because they are smarter and find better opportunities elsewhere or they are luckier than the others. And these people come back to this blog to educate the innoncence not to go through the deceit they went through. Duuuuuhh!

4) Miss thick head or s **t head .. don't assume that everyone is motivated by money. People need or deserve decent working conditions and sanity to live and enjoy lives. Some people simply value their well-balanced healthy, happy decent lives as well as their sucessful careers which HCT seriously lacks of and sadly unable to offer.

Therefore, stop attacking the others who speak the truth. Please stop staying in the dark and in denial like HCT!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

STOP keeping 3 or 4 mobile phones with you and text during the class.

LISTEN to the teachers while they are explaining the lecturers

REQUEST good directors who actually work, not the kiss ass ones if you care to succeed. These bastards can not make two ends meet in their own country so they come to UAE to bull shit their way to earn their living.

JayBee said...

How true!