Teaching at a university - Printable Version

Teaching at a university - Printable Version

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Teaching at a university - bcrAn - 2011-09-29

What would it take a non-native Japanese to teach computer science in a Japanese (public) university?

Native-level Japanese
Masters or PhD

What else?

Teaching at a university - kainzero - 2011-09-29

i remember hearing that public education jobs are considered government positions that only japanese citizens are eligible for

Teaching at a university - kitakitsune - 2011-09-29

kainzero Wrote:i remember hearing that public education jobs are considered government positions that only japanese citizens are eligible for

Not true.

Anyway you would need native-level Japanese. By native-level they really mean PhD level Japanese.

You will also need a PhD.

Teaching at a university - yudantaiteki - 2011-09-29

A miracle.

Teaching at a university - ta12121 - 2011-09-29

yudantaiteki Wrote:A miracle.

10 years of studying, including a good portion living in japan? I expect to be native-level around 5 years but that's a university level, not PH.D level (wait, isn't that after a masters degree...)

then again, I tend to say a lot. So I'll back off of this one

Teaching at a university - yudantaiteki - 2011-09-30

The thing is, becoming a university professor in Japan is about more than just your Japanese level. It isn't like you show them you know 5000 kanji or that you have 20k sentences in your SRS and they hire you. The difference between "PhD level" and "college level" isn't as much language knowledge as a lot of other things, like research ability, presentations, connections, etc.

But we can't really answer this question. The only person that can answer it would be a foreigner who is a professor of computer science at a Japanese university.

Teaching at a university - Harpagornes - 2011-09-30

The right place at the right time... It also would help to be creative/famous like Ted Nelson, the man who invented an early form of hypertext. ie Xanadu.
http://

Note the lingua 英語. At top level universities, English gets used for numerous subjects so Japanese is not necessary... A degree from a name university would help

Teaching at a university - SomeCallMeChris - 2011-09-30

While it's obviously speculation for anybody on this site to answer, given what I know of Academia, and from what I've heard I don't have any reason to think it's substantially different in Japan than in the west... I would suggest that you'd really need to get your PhD in Computer Science from a Japanese University with your dissertation written in Japanese. If you did that, then, well, you'd still have to face the usual hurdles of landing a professorship, so try to get published a few times (in Japanese) during your graduate studies if you seriously pursue this.

A better first step than asking here would probably be to search around to see if you can locate any gaijin professors in any field at Japanese Universities and check out their credentials. You might even drop a polite inquiry as to their experiences.

Teaching at a university - yudantaiteki - 2011-09-30

Harpagornes Wrote:Note the lingua 英語. At top level universities, English gets used for numerous subjects so Japanese is not necessary... A degree from a name university would help

I don't think it would be possible to get a real professorship at a Japanese university in anything (even English) without knowing Japanese. I don't believe that any courses (other than English ones) are taught in English.

Teaching at a university - ta12121 - 2011-09-30

yudantaiteki Wrote:The thing is, becoming a university professor in Japan is about more than just your Japanese level. It isn't like you show them you know 5000 kanji or that you have 20k sentences in your SRS and they hire you. The difference between "PhD level" and "college level" isn't as much language knowledge as a lot of other things, like research ability, presentations, connections, etc.

But we can't really answer this question. The only person that can answer it would be a foreigner who is a professor of computer science at a Japanese university.

yea srs reps aren't always a good way of showing skills in jp but good for gaining reading vocab though. I'm noticing more and more is: context learning is the way to go.

Teaching at a university - vileru - 2011-09-30

I'm actually planning to do this, so I've researched it a lot. I'll post later when I have time.

However, I should warn you that Japanese is the least of your worries. Graduate school, especially at the PhD level, is rigorous and exhausting. Being expected to read 300-500 pages of dense, technical material on a weekly basis is the norm. Furthermore, grad school often leads to health problems (lack of sleep/exercise, poor diet, feelings of inadequacy/being overwhelmed, etc.).

I recommend looking up the percent of students who finish their PhDs, and meeting some actual grad students. It's not all about learning great ideas and researching what you want. These things happen, but you're under pressure to do them in a very short timeframe. Not to mention, you'll often have to make compromises on your research so that it can fit into the current scholarly debates. Otherwise, you'll be irrelevant and jobless (unless by some miracle people suddenly recognize your "genius").

I see fewer and fewer faces every year in my program. Many of the people who left are some of the most intelligent people I've met. However, the pressure was too much for them. Now, I'm not saying you'll hate grad school. I enjoy it and find it rewarding. However, I'd be lying if I said it never gets stressful. Take an honest look in the mirror and ask yourself if you can tolerate 4-6 years of living on a shoestring budget and spending 60-80 hours a week between studying, teaching, and researching. Graduate school is no joke. I've heard stories of families falling apart because of it...

Teaching at a university - yudantaiteki - 2011-09-30

Wow, I don't think it's that bad -- I'm in my 7th year of grad school (yikes) and I enjoy it a lot. The job market is a worry, though. Now, I don't know how it might be different doing a PhD in Japan; I'm interacting with some of the PhD's in Japan now and it seems like everything is less publication-oriented although there are a lot of publication opportunities.

Teaching at a university - zachandhobbes - 2011-09-30

yudantaiteki Wrote:Wow, I don't think it's that bad -- I'm in my 7th year of grad school (yikes) and I enjoy it a lot. The job market is a worry, though. Now, I don't know how it might be different doing a PhD in Japan; I'm interacting with some of the PhD's in Japan now and it seems like everything is less publication-oriented although there are a lot of publication opportunities.

Holy toledo, aren't your student loans insanely high by now?

Teaching at a university - yudantaiteki - 2011-09-30

No, I had 5 years of TA position, a scholarship year, and I have a Japanese scholarship now, so I have no debt. I would not have stayed in grad school for 7 years on my own dime.

Teaching at a university - Javizy - 2011-09-30

vileru Wrote:However, I should warn you that Japanese is the least of your worries. Graduate school, especially at the PhD level, is rigorous and exhausting. Being expected to read 300-500 pages of dense, technical material on a weekly basis is the norm.

You might wanna try a couple of these.

Teaching at a university - Harpagornes - 2011-09-30

Something to look at...
http://ic.sfc.keio.ac.jp/
Seems to be tech related and all the course work is in English so there should be no language barrier for foreign staff. Not a National University however.

@bcrAn
I see you are based in Nagoya. Maybe you could meet up with foreigners or Japanese people teaching computing. That would give you an idea as to what the requirements are.

I see IAMAS in Gifu has a foreign member of staff teaching programming. Not sure if he uses Japanese or English
http://IAMAS.ac.jp

Teaching at a university - kitakitsune - 2011-09-30

Should add a * here

You might be able to find a job teaching comp science using English in Japan but you will never land anything better than a yearly temp contract with reduced benefits and zero upward mobility.

If you want something permanent or with tenure you have to be able to speak Japanese and become involved with the day to day administration of the university.

Teaching at a university - Harpagornes - 2011-09-30

This book paints a rather dire picture of the status of foreign teachers in Japan.
It came out over 10 years ago however.
http://www.amazon.com/Cartels-Minds-Japans-Intellectual-Closed/dp/0393045374/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Any comments from anyone close to the action.

Teaching at a university - bcrAn - 2011-09-30

Thanks Smile

A miracle sounds like a pretty damn hard challenge, it's going to be fun.

Teaching at a university - AlexandreC - 2011-09-30

Teaching computer science in an English speaking university would be tough enough. Actually, you might want to start by doing that, and then seek another position in Japan.

Teaching at a university - bcrAn - 2011-09-30

I am just teaching English at a school now but eventually I want to move on to a university and teach English, once I am inside and if my Japanese gets native-level then I will work hard until I can get a computer programming / math professor position or maybe I will fail miserably Smile

Teaching at a university - Harpagornes - 2011-09-30

What qualifications have you got?

Teaching at a university - yudantaiteki - 2011-09-30

bcrAn Wrote:I am just teaching English at a school now but eventually I want to move on to a university and teach English

I see you're going for not one, but two miracles.

Teaching at a university - louischa - 2011-09-30

bcrAn Wrote:I am just teaching English at a school now but eventually I want to move on to a university and teach English, once I am inside and if my Japanese gets native-level then I will work hard until I can get a computer programming / math professor position and maybe I will fail miserably

Hmm. There you disappoint me. I thought you were more ambitious than that. Why just be a math/computer science professor at a lousy university? Work even harder and become the first foreign Japan Prime Minister! You seem 100% qualified for it.

Teaching at a university - magamo - 2011-09-30

I know some university professors from overseas working in math/computer science fields in Japan. If you're planning on going to grad school in Japan, you'll learn how to find a post by the time you get a Ph.D. So I'll omit the detail. Some things that are definitely different from the academic job market in the US are:

1. Research/teaching statements are much shorter,
2. There isn't a CV per se. You send whatever they ask you to,
3. They do ask your age, sex, etc. and take them into account. You may even be asked to send your photo too,
4. Postdocs are rare in computer science. They're normal in math though,
5. Interviews are generally shorter and simpler,
6. Tenure tracks are a minority, so often you're tenured from the day one, though they're getting more and more popular,
7. There is a website run by the government where most of academic job ads are posted,

As for language proficiency, if you're hired mainly because of your research, it doesn't matter much as long as you can communicate efficiently and teach in Japanese. None of the foreign professors I know speaks Japanese like a native speaker. I have no idea how teaching oriented jobs work.

Also, if you apply from overseas, don't get pissed off if they invite you for an interview, turn you down, and don't reimburse your travel expenses. They do this all the time.