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[wessex]

If you're considering going here, I would be very careful, and don't plan on longevity.  If you're inexperienced, don't go.  If you're experienced, stay out of Tuzla and you may stand a chance.  This is not really a university, far from it, and the type of teaching is very high-school.  Don't take anything you read on their website too seriously.  The pay is low, and the teaching load is quite heavy.  Travel between campuses takes hours and is on dangerous roads, particularly in winter.  You will have discipline problems, particularly if you are not willing to pass everyone.  I think I've said enough, but there is a lot more to tell. 

[normative_]

Edit: The answer below was if if you were actually asking a question, which you're not. Nevertheless, the advice still stands:


Bosnia is on the verge of financial and political collapse. Don't go unless you are comfortable with the risk of not being paid or ending up in a war zone.

[deepbluec]

I felt I had to respond to this post.  I am a new professor at the American University in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  I've been here since September, and have extensive experience teaching at the University level in both the United States and in Asia.  I'm not sure what your experience was like, or if you actually taught at this university, but my experience so far has been quite different.  I don't know how you are aware of what any classes other than your own might have been like, but the teaching level is certainly not 'high school' in my classes - at least not compared to those I taught in the United States.  Over the past decade I have taught students of all different ability levels, both undergrads and graduate students, and of course there is variation from class to class and institution to institution, to some degree.  The students at AUBiH aren't very different from most American students I've taught over the years, although they have the added challenge of not being native speakers.  Still, I am impressed with many of them, and don't see any large differences between my classroom here and most of my classroom experiences in the USA.  As for Tuzla, I am very pleased with the city - it is charming, and provides everything I might need. The staff at the University are wonderful, my colleagues are professional and pleasant, and I enjoy the cafe culture and European feel of the city.  I came here to experience another culture, so I don't miss Starbuck's, Walmart, or McDonalds as some might.  Furthermore, I can drive to other interesting cities, or fly to Western Europe within less than an hour (from Sarajevo).  If I was teaching at a small midwestern univerity, I wouldn't have such a varied and interesting social life, I daresay (no disparagement  of the midwest intended - I was born there).  The pay is also in line with small American private univeristies, and the tax benefits make it more attractive. The teaching load is also perfectly normal for anyone graduating in the past decade or so - my current load is four courses and two preps.  I can't comment on the winter roads, but I find the drive to Banja Luka which I make weekly similar to my drives down Pacific Coast Highway 1 in California.  Twisty, yes, but I don't have to do the driving in Bosnia - another benefit that I wouldn't have if teaching in the states. No university ever provided a car and driver to get me from one campus to another when I worked in America.  I haven't been here for the winter yet, so can't comment on that - .  As for financial collapse - isn't that a problem worlwide right now?  And this is not a place that feels on the verge of political collapse either - not in daily life.  People are out in the streets, frequenting cafes, dressed to the nines, going normally about their business.  I really can't imagine that the government's current problems would be permitted to devolve into political collapse by the EU or the USA.  Life and work aren't perfect anywhere, but I am quite happy here, and the Bosnian people I've met are wonderful. 

[normative_]

As for financial collapse - isn't that a problem worlwide right now?  And this is not a place that feels on the verge of political collapse either - not in daily life.  People are out in the streets, frequenting cafes, dressed to the nines, going normally about their business.  I really can't imagine that the government's current problems would be permitted to devolve into political collapse by the EU or the USA. 

BiH's financial and political problems are intertwined. It's more reliant on outside assistance to keep its public finances running, and political problems as well as clientelism (read corruption) have led to an impasse on replenishing the flows of capital assistance.

As in many cases, there is only so much the outside world can do to prevent this from going the wrong way, and it's a bold assumption that the West will bail the country out without conditions. It's up to those running the country.

 

[alleyoxenfree]

This thread already exists, so you might want to do a search and read the additional responses there before you decide to go.

[wessex]

All opinions are welcome, but I would prefer that someone who has been at an institution for a month, and is already an apologist, consider that over time opinions may change.

[scarlett1]

To normative   
You are insane
I am sipping my coffee and eating my baklava in Tuzla
with less chance of imminent collapse, war zone...
than wherever you are at

Regards from BiH, visit sometime when you overcome your paranoia

[witness]

Here, in a nutshell, is the problem with the ways in which contributors voice their positive or negative appraisals of the various institutions about which they write.  Normative sounds like he/she is taking it all a bit too personally, and Scarlett sounds she/he was paid to write some insipid twaddle that doesn't seem to have much to do with the institution in question.

[scarlett1]

No, Scarlett is a Bosnian who is offended when untrue things are written about her country.
Just felt I had to clarify.

[promovenda]

Ah, more fun about the American University in BH.

[normative_]

You'd have a hard time finding anything personal in what I said.

The issue was, at the time of my writing, that the country relied on outside funds to hold the country afloat and together. If the political actors hadn't been so stubborn and given the international community that supports the country such a hard time, refusing to change their behaviour in return for support, not only would I not have speculated on the country's future, but much more importantly, people at the OSCE and the IMF would not have been speculating about it. That is what I got wind of. They were assessing first and foremost the financial side of things, and how the finger-pointing had degenerated into something all of them were extremely concerned about.

Happily, the IMF, with the help of the OSCE in the background (they do brilliant work and deserve far more credit than they often get) has succeeded in bringing the authorities around after months of intense pressure. They signed an agreement on 20 November that broke the deadlock over the provision of support that had existed since July.

Sometimes, sitting in a lovely cafe sipping coffee and eating sweets, it doesn't seem as if your ability to do that depends on whether your politicians do the right thing. And whether the international community helps them get there. But it does.

Bosnia has a new lease on life, for a time. I hope they use it wisely. And learn to treat each other civilly. On this forum and off.

[wessex]

Let's keep our eye on the ball here folks.  The owner of this institution, an American passport holder as well as Bosnian, is fundamentally corrupt as is the entire institution.  Avoid this place at all costs, but if you must, do not get roped into living in Tuzla.  It is a very incestuous place, i.e., students and administration, and the teacher is frequently thrown under the bus as a laxative for both groups.

[smallchange]

Some people are able to make a kind of peace with the place, and more power to them. I hear they had contract difficulties w/some professors, and the owner is very upset with the postings here. Unless you are really enthused about living in Bosnia, this is not the place fo you.

[wessex]

I agree some people do, the truly desperate.

[witness]

I intend to go full on on the job market this spring and I read in one post on this or the other AUBiH thread here that the institution is expanding, which suggests the need for new hires.  I would throw my hat in, in spite of the posts on the threads.  The ones positive about the institution I would largely disregard, other than to say 'I'm glad it's working out for you'.  The negative ones; once you sift your way past the anger, I suspect, get closer to the truth.  However, after twelve and a half years in Turkey, the first nine in a good uni, Bilkent, about which I have little to criticize, followed by three and a half in two that are the pits (see the 'Avoid Fatih University..' thread for the lowdow on one of them) I can't imagine anything Bosnian academia could have to throw at me that could be any worse than what I have put up with in Turkey.  And Bosnia is in EUROPE, which has become a very big deal for me!  Indeed, what I have read in the posts on here is all too familiar.  It really is the same sh*t; egomaniac bosses, no accountability, no sense that a contract is binding (or rather that the faculty member is bound by its terms, but the institution can break it with impunity), academically weak students who have political leverage with rectors and deans and the like, etc., etc.  Been there, done that, bought several t-shirts.  I also have a couple of friends and former colleagues who are currently at uni's in Taiwan.  better money than Turkey, but the same sh*t.  Leave North America or Western Europe and this stuff is the deal.  Some can live with it, so can't. Seems I can, but I'm still not sure whether that's good or bad?!