Where can I find information on how much part-time (or adjunct) university faculty make in Taiwan? I’ve heard its not very much, but I’d like to know the actual amount to determine if an opportunity is worth my time.
I know the amount would vary depending on experience and degree held.
But I also know these pay rates are set by the government and there’s not a lot of wiggle room.
I also assume these salary scales are public information, but I can’t find anything on the English internet. I just get salary info for FT faculty or K-12 English teachers.
Ballpark figures are fine. So are rough comparisons to a full-time teacher’s salary: i.e., if a Lecturer makes $80NTD/mo teaching 4 classes, would a similarly ranked Part-Time lecturer make roughly the same amount per class? Approximately $20NTD/mo
If there is a website that lists these rates I’d appreciate a link. I can try to translate from Chinese.
This is what I can find: a general salary scale for teaching hours (no payment for prep) effective 2019 at a public university. Perhaps the pay scale would be different in the private university system—on this point, I simply don’t know.
The daytime teaching hourly pay varies depending on the rank at which one is hired (Full Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Lecturer—with the latter typically not holding a PhD):
It’s very interesting that they have a maximum pay rate for private universities isn’t it.
Why would there be a maximum I wonder. I guess they are part funded by the state?
Thanks, for all this info. This is kind of what I was expecting, but its still pretty disappointing.
A few other things related to my situation could make this a decent option for me: I would have very little prep time. And I don’t have to worry about health care like I would in the US, so the situation is a bit different in Taiwan.
I’ve adjuncted before, and theoretically, it could work. Especially if its a regular, steady source of PT work. So that’s why its an option to consider.
But yeah, adjuncting is generally a scam. I did it for a place that paid pretty well, but they would schedule it in a way that broke up my work week making it impossible to do other work.
But the pay would be a pittance. The main benefit is to keep my status as a University teacher and a connection to the academic world. But at this pay scale…
I was told the MoE had maximum pay scale for private universities, and that they receive government funding based on the number of Taiwanese students they have…
iiuc, private schools have to set their salary scales according to the rule for publich school teachers. they have to give a raise without additional fund from government when public schools make raise with government fund.
they can set accademic research fees or other allowances more freely.
We get a research fee in order to get the salary to a competitive level. I’d still be earning more if I went back to cram school teaching. Those long holidays in the summer though…
Having worked as part-time faculty in several universities here. There are some things to watch out for:
We didn’t get paid for the summer vacation; we didn’t get health/labor/pension paid; we didn’t get professional development or research funding; we mostly had a shared office (if you could call it that); FFS, I even had to pay fax fees for attending a conference on my own dime. They wouldn’t pay for photocopying or allow us to use the photocopier for more than 10 copies per semester. In one of the most prestigious universities, one of their FT faculty approached me asking why no one stayed. Well… it wasn’t even a career step for most people.
The worst though was that payment from this school was even less regular than the private gigs. They never processed salaries on time. Ever. We were rarely invited to attend faculty meetings, had little or no choice over core-curriculum, never got invites to faculty events, … they didn’t even process library cards for us to use their library. For working PT, I swore never to do it again. The ‘prestige’ was not worth it.
I quit after two semesters. Another well-known place I worked at promised to choose one of us 3 they hired as PT teachers after a year. They reneged on that promise. The irony was the downtown campus had been a much more pleasant place to work. I don’t teach PT now. I really hope that things are better for PT faculty now…
While every case will be different, the structural conditions are not good: a decreasing pool of local students at the university level in Taiwan, paired with the closing of some private unis, means a shrinking market which is—generally speaking—not helpful for those in adjunct positions.
, the day for full employment rights for foreign academics will have been realized. 