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!!