Enough of Princess Noura University

you told us about the negative side of your experience ,I think you should tell us about the positive side

Anopes79 wrote:

you told us about the negative side of your experience ,I think you should tell us about the positive side

Reading through other posts on this subject, there may not be anything positive to tell.

Hi Deocome. Good for you for telling it like how it is and good luck to you wherever you end up. I'm like you. I believe teachers who want to come have a right to know how mistreated and overworked we are before they decide to come or not. And I'm tired of attendance myself!

Today was one of those days where I also want to put in my resignation but I just can't afford to. This is midterm week, so we have to give out exams to HUGE overcrowded classes with NO PROCTORS, NO SEATING ARRANGEMENTS and NO HELP WHATSOEVER. Some students don't even have desks! They just do the exams on their laps! Students take forever to do them because they won't settle down, they cheat and they never fill out their info correctly. Which we get blamed for. After we try to get 60 students to take a midterm that they can't do, we go back to whatever metro station they are collecting exams at and sign them out with our lead teacher.  The lead teacher then starts to nitpick about this name being in Arabic, this one doesn't have the correct test form, why didn't we count the  exams and so on. Why didn't she come and help us then??!! This takes more than 30 minutes per exam b/c of metro time and all the walking, and we have 6-7 midterms to do. And that's if the lead teacher is there! If she's not there, we have to literally wait around until she comes back or we'll get  a silly WARNING of some sort b/c they love to do that here too.

The thing that really makes me want to quit is the daily emails which are mostly irritating new rules or a slap on the wrist to teachers. Teachers don't do this, don't do that, please don't do this, please respect PNU policy, please follow the rules, please submit your paperwork on time, we'll be forced to take action. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a detention center to be honest. I don't even remember what it's like to be self-respecting teacher anymore.

People want to know: Why is Princess Nora University tormenting their teachers like this? Because so many have quit that they're understaffed, so everyone is overworked. But they're not really hiring because they want to downsize and save money. Also b/c they want to get accredited so they have tons of new rules and paperwork and it all gets dumped on the teachers. We slip, we get a slap. They LOVE to blame stuff on the teachers. How do they expect to get accredited if all the  teachers quit or have a stroke?

Looks like PNU  is in desperate need of proper management and administration. They should provide you  secretaries for this sort of work, shouldn't be your headache.

Secretaries ?????

LOL

Yes, secretaries. This sort of work is handled by 'coordinators' and specific job secretaries at our institution (Alfaisal university).

The best university to work in is King Saud, second is Imam Muhammad. Forget PNU.

go to KSU

I don't know I mean £2000 a month net..........with free accommodation....... compared with £1600 net or less in the US, as a properly qualified teacher (and I mean PGCE) how can anyone complain, if you were anywhere else the bounty would be no where near as good (or you might need more that a TOFL/ESL, or just plain to be born in an country that supposedly speaks English)

You know what they say about it 3 years for need, the next 3 are greed

Could any one of you please send me the recruiting contact of pnu to my email: idsiraj@yahoo.com

Mani187 wrote:

Yes, secretaries. This sort of work is handled by 'coordinators' and specific job secretaries at our institution (Alfaisal university).

Mani87, we are our own secretaries.    We spend around 10 hours a week outside of work doing this second job of secretarying. (Actually, some teachers really do hire their own secretaries and pay out of pocket.) Princess Nora University will never,ever hire secretaries for the teachers. I mean, expat English teachers don't even have health insurance! PNU won't pay for our health insurance, secretaries are a far cry.

Besides, where would PNU get the money to buy gourmet chocolate, flowers and cappuccino machines for the deans and heads of department if they spent money on things like secretaries?!

I can empathize with your situation. PNU like most other Saudi employers promise lots but delivers little, yet expects lots. Bases on my  7 years experience in Saudi Arabia I have not met very few who truly value education. They build all the big buildings but lack the human software. The only way to survive is to know that you are there to make and save money. You can never expect job satisfaction. Good luck to you all.

mrthoth wrote:

I don't know I mean £2000 a month net..........with free accommodation....... compared with £1600 net or less in the US, as a properly qualified teacher (and I mean PGCE) how can anyone complain, if you were anywhere else the bounty would be no where near as good (or you might need more that a TOFL/ESL, or just plain to be born in an country that supposedly speaks English)

You know what they say about it 3 years for need, the next 3 are greed

No matter how much a university pays, they are not justified in abusing their teachers. Our pay is about average, but when you look at it closely, Princess Nora gets a 2 for 1. They hire one teacher to teach over 300 students. A TEFL teacher should never have to teach more than 150 students in any situation. So, if PNU pays 22,000 GBP per year, they are in fact paying only 11,000 because they've got you to do the job of 2 teachers. It's just labor to them, at the end of the day, so they don't really care and probably feel very clever!

i must agree with you -- they build big buildings and great facilities but they never fix their system. most of the schools are mismanaged -- they are so quick to lie and deny all their promises when they hired you. It;s just hopeless to work with their trashy system.

It's true that they find loopholes to break some promises and then forget the rest. It's typical of Saudi institutions.

It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't demand that we move mountains. PNU piles on the work, but doesn't follow through with their obligations. I mean, right now we've no health insurance, no books, no copiers, no printers, and broken technology. Then they give you 300 students and say: Teach them everything, and God help you if you don't!

mrthoth wrote:

I don't know I mean £2000 a month net..........with free accommodation....... compared with £1600 net or less in the US, as a properly qualified teacher (and I mean PGCE) how can anyone complain, if you were anywhere else the bounty would be no where near as good (or you might need more that a TOFL/ESL, or just plain to be born in an country that supposedly speaks English)

You know what they say about it 3 years for need, the next 3 are greed

I beg your pardon mrthoth. Most of us in the LEAD program at princess nora come with master degrees and years of experience. We are screened by very respectable recruiters and earn every penny. No undeserved favors at PNU you can be sure of that.

Everyone has a masters degree nowadays.......... usually not in the original subject they studied (you know the one they really wanted to do but couldn't make a career of).

I should be a case that you accept you get paid generously and ignore the admin noise, failing that the airport is only 5 minutes up the road, I'm sure there's a break mid January.

If none of you have the ability to take these issues up with your management then you only have yourselves to blame. Maybe after a few years of dramatic churn someone will take notice over all the squawking. I do know a few girls who are desperate to actually return to PNU having been elsewhere like Abha or Burraida.

yes- it's ' take it or leave it ' at PNU. I also teach there and confirm that the workload is appalling, but as long as the teachers  (and lead teachers) accept it , the situation won't change.

Asalam Aleikum Azra (sis)

I am from India, and pursuing Ph.D in Geography, completed education from Aligarh Muslim university, willing to teach in saudi university, will you please guide me, how to apply saudi university for job. Thank you. Ansari

Hi Am interested to teach there...what is the working conditions like? how many hrs of teaching+admin are teachers assigned to do?. Also what kind of accomadation will they provide for me and my kid.

Hello. I would like to know more please as I am contemplating a job offer. I have a couple of friends working there already and their reports are very positive, good working conditions, fashionable accommodation, etc. Quite the contrary to your experience. Please advise

If you're a direct hire proceed with caution.
I would recommend taking out your own health insurance because right now we have no real coverage. Also, know that if you want out of your contract you'll have to do a 'runner' because the university no longer is accepting ANY resignations even though the contract states if you provide 60 days notice you can resign. If you do a runner you get blacklisted.  Be cautious to think carefully about what you get yourself into. Look at all options... Before committing!!!

sehn wrote:

i must agree with you -- they build big buildings and great facilities but they never fix their system. most of the schools are mismanaged -- they are so quick to lie and deny all their promises when they hired you. It;s just hopeless to work with their trashy system.

It sounds like the education system needs some fixing.    It is good that people take time to tell what really happens behind the curtains.

Teacher Teacher Teacher wrote:

If you're a direct hire proceed with caution.
I would recommend taking out your own health insurance because right now we have no real coverage. Also, know that if you want out of your contract you'll have to do a 'runner' because the university no longer is accepting ANY resignations even though the contract states if you provide 60 days notice you can resign. If you do a runner you get blacklisted.  Be cautious to think carefully about what you get yourself into. Look at all options... Before committing!!!

Thanks for this valuable advice!

Well stated,  "- they build big buildings and great facilities but they never fix their system. most of the schools are mismanaged -- they are so quick to lie and deny all their promises when they hired you."

If you know and UNDERSTAND  this going in then you'll be fine! Take the money and run!! However, if you are a person with character then this creates a moral and ethical dilemma.

Teacher Teacher Teacher wrote:

If you're a direct hire proceed with caution.
I would recommend taking out your own health insurance because right now we have no real coverage. Also, know that if you want out of your contract you'll have to do a 'runner' because the university no longer is accepting ANY resignations even though the contract states if you provide 60 days notice you can resign. If you do a runner you get blacklisted.  Be cautious to think carefully about what you get yourself into. Look at all options... Before committing!!!

You're not allowed to take out your own health insurance if you work for PNU, because you are supposed to go to government clinics. If you try to get your own insurance, you will get in BIG trouble. Independent insurance is only for dependents of employees. So basically you are up a creek with no way out. Any health problems whatsoever, don't even think about coming to PNU

zoe2015 wrote:

Hello. I would like to know more please as I am contemplating a job offer. I have a couple of friends working there already and their reports are very positive, good working conditions, fashionable accommodation, etc. Quite the contrary to your experience. Please advise

Maybe because it's their first semester. For a lucky few, the first semester can be easy if classes are already assigned. But we had one teacher who quit after 3 DAYS.

We work 9 hours with no overtime pay. So you work the last hour unpaid because of a loophole in labor law. Also you have lots of paperwork. You work at home 10-15 hours most weeks and grade on the weekend because exams are on Thursday and they want grades on Sunday morning.

Some people don't mind working hard and working 9 hours. It depends on what you can put up with.

chimchim wrote:

We work 9 hours with no overtime pay. So you work the last hour unpaid because of a loophole in labor law. Also you have lots of paperwork. You work at home 10-15 hours most weeks and grade on the weekend because exams are on Thursday and they want grades on Sunday morning.

Some people don't mind working hard and working 9 hours. It depends on what you can put up with.

PNU teachers have to do 9 hours without overtime pay because of the severe teacher shortage. PNU stopped all health insurance last year (no kidding!) so a lot of teachers left last term. Around 30 teachers. So now we have a storm of teachers doing overtime hours and PNU is not about to pay out all that money. That's why unpaid overtime has become the rule.

Someone always says: Why not leave then? Easier said than done.

It is sad but true about the putrid HR, Administration, and mismanagement that prevails at PNU. Its no different to many other similar educational institutions and also businesses in KSA. Tough call for most expats employed here.

attendance every hour? .....  its just part of the grade.... why the hell would you have to waste so much time and effort for that....

my college professor used to give short quizzes every day on the start and at the end of the class,..... the questions were quite easy, but he just uses it as his attendance....... so we could not come in late, we could not cut class, we had to be there, listening to his lectures all the time.... or we'd both fail the attendance and the quiz....

HR in KSA sucks
They are like the FBI with guns rather than wanting to keep employees happy

totally agree its a sad state of affairs

but if you dont like the way things are done, the agency who recruited you, the unpaid overtime etc. the solution is simple: dont renew your contract. apply else where