In Taiwan, Universities Hire Russian Faculty on the Cheap

A Chinese language newspaper recently reported that National Yunlin University of Science of Technology in Taipei was planning to hire Russian professors, by offering them just NT$10,000 ($314.66) per month.

In response, a staff member of the university’s human resources department said that the plan was in a preliminary stage and hiring terms have not yet been substantiated. The staff member said the plan to hire had not been confirmed yet.

In the report, the university’s president, Lin Tsong-ming was reported to have said the average monthly salary of a professor in Russia was NT$7,000 ($220.26), and therefore the salary offer of NT$10,000 ($314.66) was considerably higher for the professors interested in teaching in Taiwan.

Recently, the university held an academic seminar which attracted numerous Russian academic professors in the field of environmental safety management. Lin stated that in recent years, Taiwan has devoted itself to the development of vocational training, with an emphasis on environmental conservation and public safety engineering. Russia has already carried out in-depth research and educational development in these same fields, he added.
Hiring Russian academics to teach courses, Lin said, would encourage more technical and education exchanges between the two countries. Lin said he was confident about hiring Russian instructors, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Education. He added that the university would do its best to push the hiring plan through.

As foreign instructors are not regulated by the Labor Standards Law, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said the salary would be determined by both the employer and employee.

Even if NT$10,000 ($314.66) was less than the minimum wage of NT$15,840 ($498.47) stipulated by law, such an agreement would not violate legal regulations.

From the Taipei Times. Reprinted here with permission.