Joe has compiled a list of the posted working conditions from various Korean universities.  Most of my friends also work at universities, so it’s interesting to see what other places are offering.

How to read the listing:

Chinju National University of Education

16 hrs/wk, 2.3 MA/2.0 BA, housing: provided—furnished, vacation: paid summer/winter

It means:  16 hours a week, 2.3 million won ($2425 USD) a month if you have a Masters degree, 2.0 million won ($2109 USD) if you have a Bachelor’s degree, a furnished apartment, and you get paid vacations in the summer (July/Aug) and winter (Jan/Feb).  The Korean school year starts in the beginning of March.

Remember, just because someone works at a university doesn’t mean they teach university classes.  Over the years, universities have realized there’s a lot of money to be made running “hagwon” classes on their university campus.  Since most university classes finish by the afternoon, there are a lot of classrooms vacant after that time.  Coincidentally, children get off from school by three or four o’clock.   My university started running a kids program last semester.  For the upcoming semester, I’ll be teaching mostly Freshman to Senior conversation classes, but I’m also obligated to teach 2.5 hours, two days a week in the after-school children’s program.  I don’t mind teaching kids, so it wasn’t a big problem for me.  Still, I’d rather be teaching all university classes.  There’s a lot of planning involved when teaching kids.