OK, folks, there are about 672 reasons why you should not work in a “Foundations” program in China. I’ll give you the most important ones -- from my experiences.
If you are not familiar with Foundation programs, these are programs operated at universities and colleges, usually in “cooperation” or “partnership” with an overseas institution. The stated “goal” of such programs is to help strengthen the English skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) of students in China prior to their departure for Australia, the U.K., or Canada. The teacher is usually expected to prepare the students for an upcoming IELTS exam, which is usually required as part of the student’s entry into the overseas university. (Some programs have made “special” arrangements with the foreign institution to somehow circumvent the IELTS exam.)
I have worked with two foundation programs, in two different cities, and I will never do so again.
The first one was in a large city in eastern China, and the overseas partnership was in Perth, Australia. The original job posting sounded promising: good salary (especially for that particular city) and an impressive sounding program. I had a telephone interview with a woman in Perth who conducted herself in a very professional manner and answered my questions and concerns with reasonable and seemingly credible information. She also pledged solid support should I meet with problems at the school, claiming she had a close relationship with the team in China. (I’ll return to this subject later.)
The school dispatched a small group of folks (and a van) to the city where I had been living for some years, to transport me and things to their city and institution (a college attached to a reputable public university). The apartment arranged near the center of the city was clean, spacious, handsomely-decorated, and well-equipped. Two days later, I was to begin my teaching.
When the day came, a school bus arrived very early in the morning (my first class was to begin at 8:00) to take me to the school. The bus ride was almost an hour-long, and the “college” was located in what looked like a war zone. All area buildings surrounding the school had been demolished, or were in various states of demolition. It was just a huge pile of rubble – quite noisy and extremely dusty.
As I entered the gates of the school the building facades (the campus held only a few buildings – two teaching buildings, two dorms, and admin building, and a canteen) looked reasonably decent – white and modern. However, my classroom was shabby, strewn with litter and had no heat or air-conditioning. The building's corridors were open at each end, making the place extremely windy (and this was the beginning of winter).
The bathroom (same one) for the teachers and students was the worst I had seen in all my years in China – no partitions!
After getting through my morning classes, I was taken to the office of the “headmaster” (i.e. the owner) to be greeted. His office was plush, and equipped with lots of modern amenities (with a western-style toilet) nearby.
My teaching schedule was quite unattractive: classes very early in the morning, and very late in the afternoon (last one ending at 6:00PM), with very few classes in mid-morning, and early afternoon. It was explained to me that the “foundation” program was required to work around -- in “cooperation” -- with the students’ major, and so their major courses received scheduling priority. Therefore, I had to arrive at the “college” earlier than the Chinese teachers, and departed campus hours after most of them had gone home. No one at the school attempted to open a relationship between our program and the various majors departments. We were all clearly working in competition and conflict with one another.
As for the deplorable working/classroom conditions, I learned that the building had been erected in 2004!
My five groups of students (two first year; two second year, one third year) possessed the full range of English skills. Some had impressive speaking levels, while others (all in the same large class of 40+ students) had precious little English-speaking ability, or desire to improve. Not only was I expected to improve their skills, but to also prepare them to pass an upcoming IELTS exam required for their entry in the university in Perth.
With each passing day more and more questions arose regarding the program and the working environment. The woman “managing” the program on the Chinese side spoke no English and always offered ridiculous excuses and explanations as to why the working conditions and many of the students’ performance were so low (or simply awful). It turned out that the woman who conducted my telephone interview from Perth (with a heavy Aussie accent) was the daughter of the local non-English-speaking “manager.” They were obviously working together and would say and do anything to lure teachers to that “college.”
I also soon learned (from the students) that two months prior to my arrival, a group of disgruntled students had pelted the headmaster’s office with stones, demanding partial refunds for the horrible dormitory condition he had provided and expected them to endure. The “headmaster” always kept a limo waiting outside his office for swift getaways.
I got myself out of that terrible within three months, but months later (back in the city where I had lived for years) I agreed to teach in another foundation program (albeit initially unknowingly).
I had been hired by a very (seemingly) established and reputable university to join the Foreign Languages department, but at the “last minute” the contract stated I would work for the “International” department (i.e. another foundations program) instead. Normally, I would have refused to sign, but I was already situated in campus housing at that point.
Foundation programs (from my two experiences) are nothing more than commercial businesses operating out of university buildings. The second institution tried to pay me public university wages, but the students (their parents) were paying MUCH more than standard public university tuitions.
The students in foundation programs had two characteristics in common. They have failed (or performed quite poorly) on the gaokao (China’s college entrance exam) and the come from families who are reasonably (comparably) wealthy (at least by Chinese standards). Most of them told me they had paid around 30,000RMB for each year in the program. Basically, their parents had bought them a seat in a university classroom, and the huge sums paid came with promises of entry into a selected overseas institution (the first “college” sent students to Australia; the second “International” university department dispatched students to England).
Foundation programs are completely money-driven (with “deans” and other “leaders” pocketing huge percentages of these tuitions for themselves) and have little or nothing to do with merit or educational integrity. Little or none of the money is actually invested in the program,, teaching materials, equipment, etc. Everyone (admin and students) is just biding their time until they can get the students shuffled off to the foreign university. Some of the students are engaged and diligent, but a great many of them are spoiled and apathetic (not only about English, but most things in life).
In my first situation, the students were expected to achieve an IELTS spoken score of 6.0 to enter the program in Australia. When I learned that a great many of the previous “graduating” students managed only a 5.5 score (which allows them a provisional entry), I expressed concern about this trend -- because the provisional acceptance requires additional, and very expensive, pre-req English course before they can enter the major curriculum – it was explained to me that actually the students don’t mind receiving the 5.5 score because the additional time required for the pre-req English courses increases their chances of immigration! Parties on both end of the equation are making huge sums of money and the teacher is holding the bag for the entire, unethical mess.
The second campus (in great contrast to the first) was enormous with my classrooms spread far apart and always on the top (fifth or sixth) floor of the building (with no elevator, of course). Again, the foundation program was clearly operating in competition with the traditional (and hopefully more ethical) university departments and curriculums.
The students at the second (and more “reputable”) university were eventually bound for England. No IELTS examination was required for them. However, in order to continue in the program from the first year to the second (in China), students had to achieve a passing score of 60% (!!!) in their final semester assessment. The foreign teacher who had preceded me (and bolted) had failed about 20% of the students (we’re talking almost 500 students in total here – 10 groups of about 45-50 students per class, who meet only once a week with the foreign teacher). After teaching the students for about four weeks, I felt they were quite lucky that he had passed as many of them as he had!
Unfortunately, the “International” department “dean” had promised parents that their precious, lazy and failing child would continue toward study in England. She implored me to alter the final grades of the previous instructor, so that ALL students would receive a passing score. I refused (as well as a number of her other outrageous “requests”). As a result of my lack of “cooperation” I was given three days’ notice to vacate the campus apartment. In order words, I was evicted for refusing to change academic scores.
Frankly, I was glad to get away from that hellish place and end the nightmare. I vowed never to go near another foundations program again! After I got myself into another living situation, I contacted the head administrator of the program in England, via email, and informed her of how the university in China had demanded and tried to force me to alter the final scores of the students. No reply.
‘nuff said…