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[fishplate]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently a senior asst. prof. in marketing at a top-50 US b-school with good research record (3 A+ journal articles in last 3 yrs + some others). Expect a similar performance in coming years. PhD from top-5 US B-school. Current salary 140 k usd. teaching load 2+2.

Is there any university in the middle east (UAE, Saudi, Gulf, etc) which is likely to give me a comparable or better offer?

Primary reason for moving: Being close to home (I'm Asian Indian) + Curiosity about an emerging, dynamic area.

Which are some of the top b-schools in the region which look for serious research faculty? How much do they pay?


Thanks

[lomalinda]

Stay where you are.

[octoprof]

Curiosity about an emerging, dynamic area.

It's a bit too dynamic at the moment, is it not?

[fishplate]

thanks for the such helpful responses. this forum is a real godsend.

[obprof]

If you are interested in switching schools, I wonder if it might be useful to go there for a sabbatical (or a summer) first.

My general sense from talking to colleagues is that the salaries would be comparable (if you take into account the tax advantages) but there is very little support for research.

There may also be very little job security, compared to what you are used to.

[jeddc]

Fwiw, I remember reading an ad fairly recently from a middle eastern university that specified a salary equal to the current AACSB average + 25%, w/ the usual additional benefits on top of that (e.g., housing, annual two-way airfare, health / life insurance, professional memberships, conference attendance expenses, assistance with children's tuition, etc.).  

Now, I've no idea if "AACSB average" refers to U.S. AACSB averages or the lower Int'l AACSB averages, research institution averages or 3/3 institution averages, public or private averages, etc.; perhaps they're referring to the flat out 'grand' average of all schools responding to the AACSB's annual survey.  

I did quickly look for that specific ad so that I could offer you a link, but I could not find it.  (I usually peruse the ads here, in the Chronicle's 'Jobs' classified section, and also at HigherEdJobs.com and the Academy of Int'l Business site.  It's possible the ad was pulled, but I assume I just missed it.)

Here's an ad I did find, that pays less.  They claim to be AACSB competitive (no 25% premium) and specifically list salaries from $70-130k.  With your publication record, I'd hope you might get something closer to $130k, but that may be a naive assumption.  

http://www.higheredjobs.com/search/details.cfm?JobCode=175488105

If that assumption does happen to be fairly realistic, though, and if that income is tax exempt locally, w/ the first $90k or so also exempt from U.S. taxes, you'd probably do quite well on an after-tax basis.  (For example, say $140,000 earned in the U.S. is roughly equivalent to $90k after federal income taxes.  $130,000 abroad might be worth $125,000 or so after U.S. federal income taxes, assuming no local income tax.  And any offer of, say, $95k or up might actually net you more money, after tax, than you currently make.)

If you're interested, and don't already have a copy, 2010 AACSB averages can be found here, on p. 35 (I assume this is all respondents, btw, not just 2/2 respondents): http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/businesseducation/2010-Data-Trends.pdf

[jeddc]

Quickly...

I meant to note that the linked ad is for a management professor.  It was simply meant to offer a realistic reference point, as I assume marketing professor salaries are fairly close.

[fishplate]

jeddc & obprof,

thanks for the responses. i have been in touch with one school in the last few weeks. the salary seems workable, but the teaching load may be a bit higher. but its not really a research focused school. in fact if you go by the UT-Dallas listing, none of the middle east b-schools even break into the top 200 schools (research wise). which raises the issue that if you move to such a school, is it essentially a one way street? what if i don't like the place? can i move back easily. somehow the prospect of finding a job in a good US school sitting out there in the middle east sounds a little scary.

so i am exploring the possibility of a visiting stint. not sure if my current school would let me do that.

any other comments about this would be most welcome.

[obprof]

What do you need in order to get your research done? Access to companies? Databases? Software? RA support? Time? Colleagues to bounce ideas off of? Funds to attend conferences?

IF you are sure that you can get this from the new school, then you MIGHT be able to get enough research done in order to come back to the US if you want to later. If not, well, I don't know what your chances would be.

As a first step, I would look into forging some collaborations with people there... it might give you some insights into working conditions and resources.