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[bench]

I am puzzled: about universities in Middle East

I worked as a visiting professor at American University of Beirut for a year and went to Asia for another year as a visiting professor.  Wanting to return to the Middle East I started to apply for a teaching position to a dozen universities in Saudi and UAE, but to my great surprise I got no reply at all. Theses universities all ignore my application. I wonder what’s wrong? My qualification is good: PhD from a very top school in the USA and several years teaching experience. Does this mean that my experience at American University of Beirut makes me unmarketable to other universities in the Middle East?.

[azkaz]

No need to panic. Universities in ME usually don't reply to individual applications. If they do at all, they'll take an incredibly long time doing so.

I'll suggest you look for individual job postings from the ME and apply. Just today 11 Sept I see a job posting in the Chronicle from Al Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Academics with Ph.D.s from top schools in the US are much preferred and much better paid here.

Just apply and sit back. It takes a long time for a recruitment decision to be taken. Good luck!

[uaeobserver]

I am puzzled: about universities in Middle East

In my opinion - this will make you a wonderful candidate.....

For most organizations in the UAE, a PhD would make you over-qualified.

[bench]

Thank you, azharka and uaeobss, for your comments. Actually I am much less optimistic than you guys. I studied and worked in the USA before but I am not an American citizen. I think universities in the ME prefer native westerners.

As a Wall Street veteran  I am no longer working for foods. I work out of goodwill.  I am looking for a teaching position in the ME because I would like to share advanced knowledge in business administration with students in the less developed regions.

So although my experience with the ME is somehow frustrated  I am not worry about it.

[untenured]

Academics with Ph.D.s from top schools in the US are much preferred and much better paid here.

Is this still true?  I read that middle eastern universities no longer pay the huge bucks for US talent because there is enough of it that are willing to go.

Also, I've read that teaching in the middle east makes it difficult to return to the US and get a job.   Again, not sure if that's true either.

Untenured

[azkaz]

I studied and worked in the USA before but I am not an American citizen. I think universities in the ME prefer native westerners.

You're quite right. What matters the most is an American passport. Unconfirmed rumors say that the salary in most ME countries and particulary the GCC varies with the nationality. American passport holders command the best. Next comes the British, Canadian and Australian passport holders. Locals come next. At the bottom of the ladder are the South Asians and Africans. Nobody knows the reason why this is so.

[catherinjolivet]

The OP specified UAE and Saudi as the destinations of choice.

In the UAE where I worked for a few years, it is my experience that locals are at the top of the food chain salary-wise (in fact my friends who are still there tell me that salaries for locals in public service were recently raised 70%). Next come educated expats, but I never noticed a difference in pay according to passport/nationality. Rather qualifications and number of years of teaching experience made a big difference. At the bottom of the pay scale, you will find laborers/workers who toil for peanuts. And so it goes...

Now for the lack of response: as others have already said, be patient and also be prepared to hear nothing at all, ever! Depending on how long ago you applied and when the start dates for said positions are, why not send an email to the HR people there?

Hope this helps.

[nomadescientist]

Actually at our university in UAE faculty salaries for nationals become ridiculously high with a recent 200% rise, not just 70%! (e.g. starting from 130K USD/year for an Assistant Professor). But, this is an official government policy to "distinguish" nationals from the others. The "others" salaries in the same rank are between 1/3 to 1/2 of that of the nationals.

Coming back to the main topic, as everywhere else in the world, you need to know or have a contact within the department that you would like to join. If you don't have one, then make one! It doesn't guarantee you the position, but at least will get your application noticed. The worse move is to contact or apply directly through the HR department.

Good luck.

[inthesun]

You're quite right. What matters the most is an American passport. Unconfirmed rumors say that the salary in most ME countries and particulary the GCC varies with the nationality. American passport holders command the best. Next comes the British, Canadian and Australian passport holders. Locals come next. At the bottom of the ladder are the South Asians and Africans. Nobody knows the reason why this is so.

I have a friend who works in Saudi and he says that academics from India and Pakistan get less than him although they may be better than him in publications and teaching. They get 30-40 % less.