Thursday 28 November 2019

HCT - "unethical and dysfunctional"

The two 'recommendations' reprinted below are recent arrivals from a couple of recently departed HCT faculty members. To those HCT inmates who are leaving the desert gulag soon, please send me your own personal stories of salvation and redemption!

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I have worked in many educational institutes around the world, but without question, HCT is the most unethical and dysfunctional organization I have ever seen. I can swear in total honesty that I personally witnessed the following: 
  • contracts and written policy "directives" arbitrarily and constantly being changed without notice, resulting in employees losing jobs, being demoted or given reduced wages without warning 
  • faculty not being provided with enough sick leave for effective medical care (to the point where one individual was forced to return to work one week after cancer surgery with visible stitches) 
  • employees being essentially forced to take overtime, but then not being paid the promised resulting wages 
  • students being unable to graduate due to sudden policy changes that were enacted without notice, and then rescinded later 
  • continually shifting calendar dates, registrar requirements, physical spaces, HR policies, management positions, platforms, resources and staffing 
On a more general note, undertaking any type of research is impossible due to the high number of teaching hours and the many mind-numbing repetitive processes that faculty are expected to do. Even the simplest academic systems, which at other organizations are set and functional, become convoluted and incomprehensible at HCT. 
Sadly, the people who remain here happily are often those who originate from even more chaotic parts of the world, or who thrive on regimentation. This may sound like a surreal exaggeration to anybody who is considering taking an offer from HCT, but I assure you that this description is actually an understatement. My sincere advice after surviving the abysmal HCT trenches for several years is for you to read all reviews carefully and then decide whether this place could possibly work for you; but ONLY in the short term.
The key issue here is that the current senior management and associated government stakeholders appear to believe that the organization is actually functioning. That misconception is evident in most quarters. The unspoken and hidden tragedy, however, is that the students, local communities and nation as a whole are lacking the enriching stimulus of a first rate federal academic organization.
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HCT treats trained academics like janitors and worse. It is the most demoralizing company I have ever worked for. Academics are not valued. The entire "school" is a scam. There is no education taking place here. It is all smoke and mirrors: People who pretend to be professors pretending to teach people who pretend to be students. If you are truly an academic, have any self-worth or integrity, and if you care about your career in academia, then DO NOT accept a job at HCT. You will be lied to, abused, cheated and in the end no other institution will take you seriously because HCT is a joke. If there were a special Olympics for academia, HCT would not be rigorous enough to qualify. It's that bad. HCT does not honor its contracts, so do not expect your compensation to in any way reflect your contract. HCT will simply modify your contract whenever and as often as it likes. In five years, my contract has been modified over a dozen times. I am currently earning roughly half of what I earned when I started. HCT not only slashes your salary once you come on board, it also slashes benefits and allowance (housing, travel, schooling...). HCT promotes Emiratis and Jordanians based on nepotism and wasta (contacts) rather than merit or qualifications. All of the directors are Emirati, and most only hold a bachelors degree (from HCT!). It's sad. If you complain in any way, management threatens you and you become a target for harsh discriminatory retaliation. UAE is so expensive that it takes at least three years to break even once you move here. So you end up getting trapped.

30 comments:

Suede Oasis said...

And a happy Thanksgiving to y'all!

Anonymous said...

Can somebody please tell me why ANYBODY would take up an offer of employment with these charlatans? It’s absolutely clear that the HCT management idiots despise and severely mistreat their best asset, the teachers. So WHY go there??

Poodle Pelham said...

Desperation is what drives people to work at HCT, and they are kept they by fear - fear of the management, and fear of not finding another job. It is, unsurprisingly, as simple as that.

Anonymous said...

Can somebody please tell me why ANYBODY would take up an offer of employment with these charlatans? It’s absolutely clear that the HCT management idiots despise and severely mistreat their best asset, the teachers. So WHY go there??

Lazy, poorly qualified wastrels like Suede Oasis had no where else to go!

Anonymous said...

Loser Suede Oasis follows the blog of another loser called Gopalan Nair who rants in : Singapore Dissident”. But, unlike Suede Nair is a qualified barrister from prestigious Middle Temple in London. He took on Singapore ruling politicians, was jailed with leg iron, and was finally kicked out of the country. Sought refuge in USA.
Suede thought that his poor academic achievements were enough for the camel- riding towel heads. But his poor work ethic meant, he was useless even as a cleaner. Hence was shown the door! Looks like the native of England, but could not hack there, because of his pathetic academic qualifications and poor teaching ability.

Suede Oasis said...

So Welcome BACK, Sanjay! Have you finished doing your Dad’s stocktaking now? I guess he’s given you a few days off, so you are spending your time very productively be making another wise contribution to this blog.
But can you please TURN OFF the echo machine, as it’s getting a little tiresome now ... after the 94th time, y’know?

Anonymous said...

Suede the wastrel We need a toilet cleaner. Minimum wage, You could do, because, you cleaned the toilets of camel riders.

Anonymous said...

Yeh, but he didn’t wipe their arses. You Indians do that, with a great broad smile!

Anonymous said...

You could not hack it in your own country. Simply with a white skin, you thought that your poor academic credentials are enough for the Arabs. Your comments reeks of unadulterated racism. As for the Indians, they are running Google and Microsoft earning millions and here you are pathetic under-achieving low lives.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the myth of the ‘Indian IT millionaires’! The truth is that the dull and uninspired sub-continentals do all the mundane tasks, leaving the truly creative stuff to the real artists and brains - the Westerners. What was the last wonder of the world that an Indian made? Not even the humble paperclip!
You are just cheap labour, Sanjay, which is why you do tedious academic nonsense for a living. If your precious PhD is so respected and worthy, why are you still doing such a mundane job?!

Anonymous said...

Actually the ‘humble paperclip’ was invented by a Norwegian at the end of the 19th century - when all Indians were still prostrating them selves before their British Empire masters.
My, how times have changed!

Anonymous said...

If you come to HCT Business...Steer clear of Dr. Ayesha Abdulla (Yasin), she’s the Executive Dean; as in keep her at arms length if possible. Close enough to keep an eye on her, but far away enough to avoid being one of her victims. Just ask one of the many casualties.

Ayesha can be quite two faced when it comes to supporting her people.

Anonymous said...

Few people read this site anymore. It is not easy to access from within UAE. Most people at HCT are relatively new, & definitely fewer Westerners. The travel allowance was reduced for those originating from far away. There is word, renewals this year resulted in offers consisting of a reduced basic rate. Educational allowance was reduced several years ago, so HCT is less family friendly than it was.

Anonymous said...

I have three words for ya re: Dr. Ayesha...!

Black Girl Magic

Suede Oasis said...

Ooh, I’m interested! Please send more details of the evil Dr Ayesha, and/or the ‘black girl voodoo magic’.
Such excitement! I feel that we have a new blog entry coming here...

Delma said...

Suede, some of the 'rumors' about Dr Ayesha Abdulla are very tasty indeed. She is quite well known for her 'close friendships' with other females, students and staff, even though she tries very hard to keep her lesbian tendencies a close secret.
But I'll let somebody else provide you with all the gruesome details of that, as well as the scandals surrounding her motivation and management skills - or rather the clear lack of them.

Anonymous said...

No surprise there. HCT has long been a cesspit full of dykes and shit-stabbers, for as long as I can remember. One more can’t make much difference!

Anonymous said...

So what was up with the autocratic Dean Lady from HCT Fujayrah being shown the door so quickly? Was that voodoo magic also?

Anonymous said...

Replacement person for the above is corona virus.
Bad actor, Qaddafi wannabe, college is now cursed, given the finger by the outgoing director.
Inshallah they will soon locate a suitable National.

Anonymous said...

I have no idea just what a “suitable national” could possibly be. Most Emiratis have no ‘suitability’ for anything related to work, either of the physical or mental variety. I do believe that they would all make very good petrol pump attendants, though, or perhaps even stacking shelves at their local supermarket. But as a college dean or director?
I am truly pissing myself laughing!!

Anonymous said...

Actually, it is amusing to watch the noddies and niggers all climbing over each other to move up the new ranking scales. The eastern europeans are just angry all the time at their noddy managers whilst the mafiosa thugs out of jordan just joy ride the shorter hours. Inside the gulag the flotsam of academia floats around the swill looking for the next conference paper so they can get the fuck out as fast as possible. It really is entertaining. As for the view from the top, it seems as if we are now world class something or other but from the bottom of this shitpile its hard to tell. I couldn't give a shit anymore but the best part is that the students couldn't care less either. win-win!

Anonymous said...

I have sent Suede my account of working at HCT, comparing it to a very bad Reality TV show. I sure hope he publishes it - it’s way too long for a mere comment like this!

Suede Oasis said...

I haven’t received anything recently comparing HCT to even a children’s programme, so please resend, dear colleague (above). Maybe it went straight to Spam, seeing as it was all about a rubbish college?

Suede Oasis said...

BTW, this site has registered 1382 hits from Sweden alone today! Can anybody help to explain this remarkable statistic?

Poodle Pelham said...

It’s those Swedish hackers, Suede, trying to bring your blog down! Don’t let the bastards take you down!

Anonymous said...

Yes, the Swedes are on to Suede!

Anonymous said...

Curious how the online teaching is going, my guess is abysmally! I would also venture to guess, even though it doesn’t work, that it will be used as an excuse to slash the total number of teachers.

Delma said...

Oh, I am sure! Any excuse to crap on the teaching staff will be rigorously grasped and enthusiastically adopted!

Suede Oasis said...

Delma, it would not be HCT if they didn’t try to shit on their most vulnerable employees!

Glassdoor said...

"HCT – School of deception & fear"
Current Employee - Assistant Professor
Doesn't Recommend
Negative Outlook
I have been working at HCT full-time for more than 5 years

Pros

Nice and friendly workmates.
That's it.

Cons

1. While paying less and less (because of cost of living increases), more and more is required of faculty in terms of research, advising, needless paperwork. Most faculties teach 4 classes per semester starting Fall 2019, with multiple preps.
2. Ticket Benefits for westerners got reduced approximately from 9750 AED to around 6,000AED.
3. Education benefits reduced per child from 60,000 to 45,000 AED. If you have two kids, then the maximum is 60,000 AED. It was 120,000 AED two years ago.
4. Starting September, an assistant professor can teach 4 classes. However, according to an email from VC of A, if needed, they can assign an additional class without an over time.
5. Summer teaching is mandatory without compensation. The upper management refused to pay overtime during summer. Furthermore, this is not included in the contract.
6. HCT has no ranks among well-known universities, even in UAE. In fact, it is not listed anywhere. You would hurt your career if you joined them.
7. Rank promotion is NOT recognized among well-known and respectable universities.
8. Almost impossible to get a rank promotion, because they are making it very difficult due to financial reasons.
9. They sacked several faculties over a dispute with female students, even if the female student at fault. In fact, two faculty sacked. Avoid teaching in female campuses if you have to.
10. In summer, faculty are expected to work thirty hours per week, while other government universities are off for summer break. In fact, HCT is the only educational institution that forces faculty to teach in summer.
11. Faculty don’t have offices; instead; they reside in an open office environment. Similar to help desk cubic desks. A very noisy environment with no privacy. Students can walk among the cubicles freely.
12. You will always hear about happiness, yet; no one is happy with the upper management.
13. Any simple mistake can result in a warning letter; simply a work environment fear culture

HCT treats trained faculties like salves. This institution is doing great in demoralizing faculties and putting them down. The upper management constantly lies to you and practice every manipulation technique. HCT can modify the contract, which reflects negatively on your allowances. We lost a lot of our allowances (travel, schooling,…) due to changes that happened recently. Deans, division chair, and worst program coordinators have no control or say. As a matter of fact, administrators have more authority and influence than faculties.
Ironically, they are coming in July to recruit westerners. If you have any respect for yourself and your experience, don’t join this place.

Advice to Management

Start treating your academic with respect. Stop slashing benefits.