Hot Job Market Expected for Professors in Canada

[anywho]

Hot Job Market Expected for Professors in Canada http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/11/768n.htm

woo! A bit of positive news to complement the NYT article on the prevalence of adjunct positions in US schools.

I'm in the US, not Canada, but I'd gladly move there for a good job.

US job listings in my field are found through the College Art Association. Where would one find art/art history faculty position listings in Canada?

[history_grrrl]

Check the website for the Canadian Association of University Teachers: <www.caut.ca>

[soveryanon]

www.universityaffairs.ca

[conjugate]

There are a few jobs in my discipline in Canada; I've applied to two.  This may be good news, or not.  One of those is way over my head, I suspect.

[anywho]

What's the adjunct situation in Canada? Do they treat their academic workers more humanely up North?

[soveryanon]

What's the adjunct situation in Canada? Do they treat their academic workers more humanely up North?

I just found this included in an ad for an adjunct at a Canadian school (not in an expensive city):

"BASE STIPEND OR HOURLY RATE: 4654.50 + 4% vacation pay (subject to change after current negotiations)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES: Include any significant variation in duties/responsibilities as outlined in Article 5.04 of Collective Agreement. Prepare and deliver 3rd year course. 2 hour lecture/seminar per week. Grade assignments."

$4700/course and some semblance of collective bargaining protections (or at least a description of duties)...sounds good to me.  Where was that deal when I was an adjunct for $1800?

Of course, if you are a Canadian citizen you'll also have health insurance.  An adjunct in America?  Probably not getting health insurance. 

[vagarh]

What's the adjunct situation in Canada? Do they treat their academic workers more humanely up North?

One university in the Toronto area pays 'sessional instructors' (i.e. adjuncts) $6500 per course, so cost of living is accounted for as well. It's all very humane.

[sonny_b]

Of course, if you are a Canadian citizen you'll also have health insurance.  An adjunct in America?  Probably not getting health insurance. 

If you're a Canadian resident you'll have health insurance.

[anywho]

"An adjunct in America?  Probably not getting health insurance."

Medicaid, maybe. Heh.

[meden]

For US readers, remember that a "course" or "full course" in Canada is usually a full year long (two 12-week terms). The equivalent of a US one-term "course" is a Canadian  "half course" (except the Canadian term is 12 rather than 16 weeks)

Benefits: do check the website for the faculty union at the university you have in mind -- many give significant benefits to part-time faculty.

If you are living in Canada and have a work permit, you are eligible for provincial health insurance. As university faculty or as a student, you can get UHIP -- as I remember, it's approximately $750/year and covers most basic health care (doctor, hospital, etc. -- though not medication). You don't need to be a citizen or permanent resident.

[american_in_ab]

For US readers, remember that a "course" or "full course" in Canada is usually a full year long (two 12-week terms). The equivalent of a US one-term "course" is a Canadian  "half course" (except the Canadian term is 12 rather than 16 weeks).

I have been teaching in Canada for several years now and have never heard of a "full course" vs. a "half course" as you describe.  If I teach a half-course at my institution, it means I'm teaching half of a one-semester course.  I have also not heard my colleagues at other instititutions (in any province) use this terminology.

For that matter, I also do not recall any full 16 week semesters during my long time in the U.S. academic system!  My current semester is about one week less of teaching than it was at my last two U.S. institutions.  In both the U.S. and Canada, the last several weeks of the term are typically dedicated to exams and grading.

If you are living in Canada and have a work permit, you are eligible for provincial health insurance ... You don't need to be a citizen or permanent resident.

This part is correct. 

As others have noted, many Canadian universities pay part-time instructors fairly well.  At my university, first-time instructors with a Ph.D. are paid a minimum of $5,762 for a three-credit, one semester course.  The minimum salary goes up with each appointment, to a minimum level of $6,680 per course by your sixth appointment period.

[vagarh]

For US readers, remember that a "course" or "full course" in Canada is usually a full year long (two 12-week terms). The equivalent of a US one-term "course" is a Canadian  "half course" (except the Canadian term is 12 rather than 16 weeks).

I have been teaching in Canada for several years now and have never heard of a "full course" vs. a "half course" as you describe.  If I teach a half-course at my institution, it means I'm teaching half of a one-semester course.  I have also not heard my colleagues at other instititutions (in any province) use this terminology.

This holds true at my Ontario school as well, where only some--possibly 20% of classes, but certainly no more than that, are full-year courses. The rest last one semester, or 'term'. The quote I gave above for a course, $6500, was for a one semester class, for an ABD instructor. A full-year course (two semesters) would pay $13,000, roughly.

In Ontario, however, a full-time job for at least a year is required to get health insurance through the province (or so I understand it--I'm covered through a different system), so a single-term contract wouldn't qualify an instructor for OHIP.

[ursula]

In Ontario, however, a full-time job for at least a year is required to get health insurance through the province (or so I understand it--I'm covered through a different system), so a single-term contract wouldn't qualify an instructor for OHIP.

I've lived all but three years of my life in Ontario, and never heard this.

[vagarh]

In Ontario, however, a full-time job for at least a year is required to get health insurance through the province (or so I understand it--I'm covered through a different system), so a single-term contract wouldn't qualify an instructor for OHIP.

I've lived all but three years of my life in Ontario, and never heard this.

'Am I eligible for Ontario Health Insurance ?

You must have Ontario health insurance to use Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care funded health care services. You are eligible for the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) if you are included under one of the following categories :
-you are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or landed immigrant] ...
-you have submitted an Application for Permanent Residence...
-you are a foreign worker who holds a valid work permit or employment authorization which names a Canadian employer situated in Ontario and your prospective occupation and is valid for at least six months...

-and you make your permanent and principal home in Ontario
and you are in Ontario for at least 153 days of the first 183 days immediately following the date you establish residency in Ontario (you cannot be absent for more than 30 days during the first 6 months of residency)
-and you are in Ontario for at least 153 days in any 12-month period'

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/program/ohip/ohipfaq_dt.html#Q1

So it is indeed only 6 months required to qualify for OHIP, but most single-term academic contracts at my university run from Sept-Dec or Jan-April, and thus are less than 6 months. Some negotiation would be required, if you only secured a single term of courses.

[sonny_b]

-you are a foreign worker who holds a valid work permit or employment authorization which names a Canadian employer situated in Ontario and your prospective occupation and is valid for at least six months...

So it is indeed only 6 months required to qualify for OHIP, but most single-term academic contracts at my university run from Sept-Dec or Jan-April, and thus are less than 6 months. Some negotiation would be required, if you only secured a single term of courses.

It doesn't say that you have to be a resident for 6 months prior to coverage.  It says your work permit has to be valid for 6 months (a 6 month or longer work permit), and you are covered.