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| SHENGDA COLLEGE, ZHENGZHOU, DON'T DO IT | ||
| This school is a private college in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. PRIVATE: That word says it all. Working in such a school is a lot different than in a public university or public school. They can do whatever they want and this school is no exception. Came here on July 7, 2004 and have nothing but problems from day one. The only good thing here is the accommodation. It is more than adequate. Have an A/C but it only produces cool air. No heat comes out of it. You have to wait until they turn on the heat in the apartment which is around mid-November. But as it wears on and late October, if you are not dressed warmly in your house, you could be a little more than cold. Or buy a heater I guess. But why should I put out the expense? They picked me up at the train station and drove me to the school. Got settled in and were kind enough to show me around the school and buy me dinner. Sat in the apartment and talked about other things, signed the contract, and gave them my train ticket for reimbursement. School did not officially quit until the end of the month. I expected my money back before then according to the contract which says: "reimbursment for train ticket or airplane ticket will be made within the first month of the date of arrival. Since I got here in July I expected my money back in July. It took 75 days to get my reimbursment. Again according to the contract pay day is the 15th of the month. If you arrive before the middle of August you will get paid for the entire month. However their excuse was since school did not restart until August 16th, they could not pay us on the 15th so didn't get it until the 29th. In September there were no holidays or any changes to the school, but we didn't get paid until the 20th. In October got paid on the 16th. Ask why, where's the pay, just goes in one ear and out the other. Or no answer at all, they just look at you with a stupid look on their face. Show them the contract but again no results. Their other faze is that they hired more than 20 new foreign teachers for 2004 so there is a lot of paperwork to do. Big deal. But the best of all was yet to come. I needed some time off to attend my wedding in Fushun, NorthEast China on September 18th. In July I made two formal requests to the Director of Foreign Affairs. He agreed on both sides and I was told I could have a 7-day leave. I made the same request twice to the Dean of the Foreign Language Department and his secretary. They didn't say anything at either time, just offered their congratulations and asked how long I would need. I told them 7 days has been granted by the school. You should know that this was all done verbally. I asked to have my classes start after the wedding on the 22nd, but that fell on deaf ears. When I received my pay in October in my bank account, it was 660RMB short. I asked why and was told I did not make my leave request formally; I didn't fill out the proper form. "What form?" I asked. Nobody ever told me about any form. The Dean said "Yes we did." My secretary Mr. Wang said he did." "No" he didn't. That was the end of the conversation and all bases have produced no results. Nobody, not the foreign affairs, foreign language department, accounting department will hone up to their responsibility as to who filled out the form to cut my pay. When I left the Dean's office, I just told him, "You are a simple-minded, closed-minded old man, and I will get my money back with or without you." Don't think he heard me. So I wrote a letter to one of the Directors of the school. She is the Founder's daughter. This letter to her has produced no results either. Kinda makes you wonder who hones up to their responsibility. So far nobody has. Contract says: Party A (Shengda) shall relate all the rules and laws of the Chinese government and rules of the College to all foreign staff. That has never happened. Supposedly they have a hand book about that but to this date have not seen hide nor hair of it. Tell the school that and again it will just fall on deaf ears. If you want to leave you must make your request formally by writing a letter of resignation to the Dean of the Foreign Language Department. They will decide whether or not you can go. If they say no then the foreign affairs officer cannot go to the PSB and have you officially released from the city. Even if they have a letter of invitation from the new school. In my 5.5 years of living here that has never happened to me. I may get fined for breaking the contract and then again maybe not, but I have always gotten my release. Just take the invitation letter to the PSB, they put it on your green card, stamp it and away you go. It can get done within 48 hours if all goes well. The new staff was interested in learning Chinese and some of the older teachers were already in that process. Can we join?" they asked. Sure, cost you 25RMB an hour. Tai Chi and Kung Fu classes were offered at 50RMB an hour, expense shared by all who go. Photo and ID cards were made after our pictures were taken. When we got them the school asked for 100RMB; 20 for the picture and 80 for the card they had inserted inside which supposedly allowed us to shop on campus cheaper. Yea cheaper? Instead of 1RMB you pay 0.90. Big deal. It would also allow you access to the library. Okay, but if you want to watch a movie or use the Internet there then you still have to pay. So where is the cheaper price. Didn't take the card. And the classes offered for a price are available in other schools for free. You also pay for the water delivered to your house. Can buy 30 tickets or pay 7RMB for each bottle. Also pay for the gas in your house. Neither of these charges are mentioned in the contract, althought the gas was mentioned on the job description posted on this website. The writer's name is Tony Lee who was a teacher here at the school. Now he does their advertising and recruiting. Careful. Even the students will tell you they don't like it here there are too many rules. They cannot leave until Friday evening after school at 4:30PM. So they climb the wall to get out. You can take this as you like; I would suggest you stay away. Go to a public university; but not a private one. Sean Williams-Bell November 4, 2004 ttswilliamsbell@yahoo.com |