Please note: The following are four individual responses to working at EIU in Vietnam. While some comments may border on personal, I can guarantee that everything in here actually happened at that university and no names are mentioned.

Case A:

I worked for Eastern International University (EIU) for a relatively short period of time, but I have been teaching at universities in Asia for a long time and if I knew then what I know now, I would never have accepted a contract at EIU. Indeed, it was an extremely stressful, frustrating and ultimately expensive experience for myself and my family (who relocated with me).

Upper management is inefficient, inexperienced, inept and generally disinterested, whilst the departmental manager is extremely controlling and almost exclusively focused on keeping and increasing his position of power at all costs, displaying little interest or knowledge of actual managerial practices or educational standards. The administrative staff, including the person in charge of visas, work permits and immigration issues, are young, inexperienced and disinterested, spending more time at lunch and watching videos on their computers than doing actual work. There is no transparency and little honesty. Covering up mistakes, frequently at the cost of the teachers, is common practice and in fact seems to be quite acceptable. There were mistakes made with the drafting of my contract, immigration paperwork, family visas and reference letter - all of which in the end I had to pay for, one way or another. The payment and vacation structures, as well as resignation terms, are twisted to suit the personal whims of the manager and administration staff - again at the expense of the teachers. Complaining to HR is futile, as complaints from teachers are all reverted back to the manager, including complaints about his conduct and are then studiously ignored, making the process extremely frustrating. There are many English teachers (around 50, from many different countries, at the time of wring this) at EIU and in general they are nice to be around, but the strong drinking culture, combined with the fact that teachers all live in the same isolated apartment complex (more or less compulsory), often leads to negativity and drama in the huge shared office.

The list of complaints I have from my time at EIU is a litany of endless frustration and stress and I am happy to have moved on, despite the fact that the students were fun to be around and I made some great friends while in Bihn Duong. If you are considering working at EIU, be careful and be sure to make an informed decision! The sugarcoating and dishonesty already starts in the skype interview...

Case B

It is, of course, prudent to research any potential employer before applying for or accepting a new position. This is perhaps doubly important when you may be going to new university in an unknown corner of a newly developing country in South East Asia. And so it is with Eastern International University (EIU), Binh Duong New City, Vietnam. Of course, therein lies the rub – it is almost impossible to do research on such a workplace because reliable information simply hasn’t existed.

To partly rectify that, I would like to briefly describe what working as an English Instructor at EIU entails.

Particularly in the English department, there is a complete lack of understanding of quality education, curriculum development, assessment and standards. While academic provosts are the international norm at university level, no such luxury exists at EIU. Competent management is sorely lacking and at times the head of the English centre is physically and verbally abusive. At best he is unsympathetic to the needs of students and teachers.

Inept recruitment and retention procedures and policies in the English department have led to experienced, qualified staff being fired and replaced with ‘teachers’ with no teaching experience – contrary to the EIU advertisement which states that teachers need at least two years’ experience. If you are very inexperienced but willing to say ‘yes’ at the appropriate times, this may be the job for you.

You will work under inexperienced, underqualified mentors and coordinators, most of whom are incapable of doing their jobs to the level required. A number of ‘mentors’ are young teachers in their first jobs with a four week CELTA qualification. One or two have more experience than that but, at the time of writing this, none have Master’s degrees in education. These are the people who will be designing your syllabus, writing tests and examinations and assessing your teaching abilities.

It is not that important that the tests and examinations are generally invalid and unreliable according to international standards. Students at EIU are allowed to pass courses and levels despite not meeting the requirements for such levels/courses. Grades are simply changed from fail to pass. While it cannot be denied that many South East Asian universities encourage teachers, instructors and professors to ‘make sure students pass’, it is seldom as blatant as it is in this particular ‘International University’. It is not considered important that students ‘graduating’ from the English programme after a minimum of a year’s study cannot explain what a noun is in English or what this sentence means: “The dog’s friend”. I know, it’s a very abstract sentence, but still…

If you hate communication, EIU might just be the place for you – there are no intra- or inter-faculty meetings, no alignment of teaching methodologies, standards and assessment criteria or knowledge requirements. Generally, if something important needs to be communicated – for example that you have three days to move out of your current living quarters – this will be conveyed to you in an email. Likewise, if you have important concerns you are encouraged to use the same channel (this is actually sometimes helpful as it provides you with evidence – merely saying something to someone about your issues will generally be denied in the future). Of course, it is important to not expect a replay to your email. A one-way system of communication is preferred.

Contracts are arbitrary and policies… well there aren’t any policies other than those made up on the spot. In fact, teachers have been known to be at work late, drunk, high on narcotics and barefoot in the classroom. This behaviour may actually be rewarded: a teacher who was regularly at 'work' in all those conditions was promoted to 'mentor' and she seems happy enough. Although that may just be all the drugs.

Speaking of contracts, if you are unhappy about any of the above issues, don’t resign. No I didn’t mean don’t re-sign, I meant don’t resign. If you are professional enough to give your contractual two-month notice, any of the following may happen: You could be ordered off the premises and removed from your accommodation. This may be your best option as you may still be paid for the two months and maybe even put up in a hotel. The alternative is that EIU will simply not pay you while you are working out your notice period and will promptly take away benefits such as paid vacation.

However, if you do manage to soldier through all of that – or don’t care which is often the case – then you should also be prepared for possible lost passports (EIU is required to renew your visa frequently and you are to be registered with the police wherever you stay and this is also renewable. In these processes, your passport may go missing. This will be your fault and your problem to fix). Also be prepared for them forgetting to renew your visa or for immigration to arbitrarily cancel a visa on you leaving the country for a vacation. You may be visited by four or more police officials at your home at any time of the night – but generally between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am. I’m not sure you’re obliged to make them tea but it still can be annoying.

This may sound like a lot of complaining, so are there any good points about working at EIU? Sure, the money is good for a country like Vietnam which is very cheap to live and travel in (but still about half of what a qualified teacher gets at the International School down the road). The students are generally and genuinely lovely, if somewhat disadvantaged by weak schooling and poor background knowledge. They were definitely what kept me going there. Also, if you like lots of wide open, industrial space with plenty of empty buildings, then the location is perfect.

Case C:

My experience working at Eastern International University (EIU) was extremely negative, to say the least. The lack of communication, complete disorganization, and nonexistent educational standards are three of the biggest problems within this institution. Even though I was only employed there for a little less than a year, problems arose from day one of my being hired. In the department where I was teaching, there are no schemas of work, learning objectives, marking standards, or even a set curriculum provided for any of the classes being taught. The manager of this department was consistently absent and extremely difficult to get a hold of. He also did not appoint a provost or department heads so lecturers were often not able to get class issues or problems resolved.

Management also discourages open interdepartmental and external departmental communication. In my specific case, it was implied that I was not to consult my co-teacher for advice on a new class that I was asked to create. I later discovered that the manager had previously asked my co-teacher to design this class but was not satisfied with the results because the manager thought it was “too difficult” for the students to understand. Essentially, the manager kept my co-teacher in the dark about coming to me with this project, which eventually caused unnecessary tension and confusion between the two of us. This attitude even extended to consulting teachers in the General English department as well. I was implicitly told not to discuss my lessons with teachers in that department and to “keep my distance” from them in social settings as well. Disunity and division is pretty apparent throughout this place and has affected the way staff and faculty treat each other in the different departments.

The bald-face lies and complete lack of communication told by human resources were the catalysts that caused me to leave EIU. For instance, before I arrived, I was assured that I would be allowed to take Christmas holidays off in December and there would be no problem with it. As soon as I turned in my annual leave request a month later, however, their tune changed and I was told I had to work those two weeks because Christmas is not guaranteed in our contract. The contract, however, DID state that Christmas Day is a paid holiday. When I pointed that out to HR, I was told that the “contract is not binding”. This kind of manipulation and deception is rampant in HR and I have had to deal with them being untruthful about delays in my work permit processing, mistakes in my police background check, and visa status.

Case D:

The short of it is that the management of the EIU's English Programme has left me (and numerous other teachers in the recent past) no choice but to leave with or without notice. We have all felt that we have never before experienced management that is so poor as to force us to sneak away in the night like criminals or to endure bullying until our last official working day. But here are the facts of what we have experienced in recent months:

• Since the previous DOS left, there has not been one general staff meeting to allow teachers to discuss important aspects of work and/or general issues to do with living in Binh Duong. The only communication from management comes from occasional written messages on a whiteboard in the office.
• There are few consistent or written policies with respect to conduct, absenteeism, professionalism, holidays and leave. Rules seem to be applied randomly or not at all.
• For example, some teachers take three hour lunch breaks, come consistently late to work, teach without any shoes on in the classroom, come to work inebriated and/or under the influence of substances, or not at all. These are but a few of the examples of conduct that has been ignored and, by implication, condoned by management.
• Grades of students are consistently changed by the manager without reason. This fraud is widespread and serious enough that students who have at times failed all four skills in examinations have been pushed through to the next level as a 'pass'. The result is that students are moving to higher levels without the English competency required and have fallen further and further behind.
• There seems to be no good educational reason for this fraud and even the students are aware that they are being pushed through levels without the necessary skills. This has led to numerous dropouts or students moving to other language schools. Students have discussed their concerns with their teachers.
• The married manager has been openly involved in sexual relations with at least one of the teachers in his department without any repercussions and later ended the teacher’s contract without sound reason.
• The manager has been openly aggressive, offensive and abusive to numerous members of staff in and outside of work, without any repercussions despite having been reported to Human Resources. This would imply that this behaviour is condoned by EIU.
• The manager has seen fit to hire 'mentor' teachers with little or no experience or qualifications above a four week CELTA course to assist, guide and observe vastly more qualified and experienced teachers. There seems to be no good reason for these decisions other than personal or political gains for the manager and has led to heightened levels of dissatisfaction among staff.
• Teachers are treated with hostility at times and when they do try to raise issues of grievance are told to basically 'shut up or resign'.
• Many women teachers have felt inordinate levels of discomfort in the workplace due to misogynistic attitudes and behaviour from male colleagues and the manager. These issues have also been discussed with HR without effect.
• At least seven teachers have left EIU without notice since the current manager has been in charge. All of these have left because work at EIU under the current management is intolerable.
• The lack of professionalism and fraudulent altering of results have had profound effects on morale and motivation of both students and teachers.
• The discrimination and bully tactics in the office have made teachers feel uneasy and uncomfortable which has impacted their notice period or lack of due to unapproachable management.
• The reputation of EIU is already tarnished and these matters are openly discussed by former and current teachers on social media, blogs and professional forums. In much the same way, students and parents are also clearly and openly aware of the problems.
• HR suddenly refused to communicate with members of staff after complaints were made regarding management. Then they were told to consult the English Academic Manager – when that’s the person you’re complaining about, who can you turn to?