ISAC Program Q&A

Before You Apply

ISAC is a government certified recruitment firm. We work with universities and public schools and recruit international teachers from all over the world.

With ISAC Teach in China Program, foreign teachers are invited to teach in China at our partner universities / schools.

What we do:

  1. Recruit foreign teachers for partner universities
  2. Screen teacher’s qualification and book an interview with teacher’s interested universities
  3. Guide teachers on work visa application, documents collection, medical check etc;

What we don’t do:

  1. Salary: ISAC does not determine teacher’s salary. Our partner university does. Your salary and benefits are not affected whether you are introduced by ISAC or other agencies;
  2. Contract: contract is signed directly between foreign teacher and university, not with ISAC.

The ISAC Teach in China Program is a project ISAC run to recruit teachers to teach at our partner schools.

ISAC works constantly to improve the standards of our program to attract quality teachers into Chinese universities and public schools.

  1. ISAC is certified by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
  2. ISAC has networks in China’s public and higher education sector. Your teaching experience via ISAC Teach in China Program provides you a career ladder at ISAC’s partners.
    For example: teacher Ms. Teresa taught English at Nanhai Foreign Language School and after a year of service and positive feedback from the school, she was referred by ISAC to teach at Hangzhou Normal University, video.

You are hired by the school. You will sign a contract with school directly. Your salary will be issued from school.

ISAC is involved in candidate screening, information relay and visa guidance.

We provide the following types of jobs:

1, Language Teacher
We have most English jobs and some German, French, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Korean jobs. We also have some other language positions every now and then. For example, Thai, Czech, Portuguese, Malay etc. We welcome teachers of other languages to submit CV so we can contact you once we have suitable university positions for you. 

2, Subject Instructor (Mechanical Engineering, Software, Computer Science, Petro Science, Chemistry, Math, Medicine etc)

Please follow Application Procedure

  1. Submit an application to ISAC;
  2. Qualified applicants will be invited to submit supporting documents including Resume, Degree Certificate, Teaching Certificate (if any), Reference Letters (if any) to career@isac.org.cn;
  3. Interview with interested universities/schools;
  4. Receive job offer and contract for visa application purpose;
  5. Apply for work visa (Z visa) at a Chinese Embassy; arrange a flight to China;
  6. Fly to China and start work

We have two terms each academic year. Teachers can start either September or February of the year, that is

  • the Fall term (from Sept-Jan) and
  • the Spring term (from Feb-July)

ISAC also have sporadic openings during a term. You can check updated Job Board and apply.

No. ISAC will charge no fee to teachers.

Teachers need to pay for the apostille fee for your degree and background check to relevant departments, and the work visa application fee to the Chinese embassy in your country.

The interview with the school is a great way to know your future employer; you will have a better idea what the university class schedule is like, and what your daily work will be like.

You will have time to ask questions you have. It’s highly advised to prepare your questions beforehand regarding types of classes, accommodation (on or off-campus), cost of living in the city, class size etc.

For each intake/semester we recruit about 30-40 new foreign teachers.

Application

Chris, Hangzhou Program

 

 

 

One thing is working hours. University teachers have about 12-16 classes (45 minutes each class) per week and no office hours. For public schools, the working hours are about 36-40 hours per week (usually 18-20 teaching hours plus 18-20 office hours). That’s why most university salary falls into the 8,000-10,000 range. Of course, you need to consider what to do in your spare time. So university jobs are perfect for those who wish to have more spare time (for travel, study, learn a new language etc). University jobs usually have better hourly rate though less overall.

Another thing is benefits. Universities provide free accommodation, sometimes quite spacious. It’s common to see a two-bedroom apartment for university teachers which is less common for public school/private sector jobs. Also, most university campuses are out of downtown in a less populated area with greenery, and easy access to city center (for students and teachers to commute).

If you don’t live a lavish lifestyle, you can save a large portion of your salary. Working in the public sector means most expenditures are covered. Housing, rent, utilities, flight tickets, travel allowance, medical insurance are included in your salary package. You need to pay for meals with affordable price at school canteen.

No doubt that you see private sector providing better salary, but if you take a closer look at the benefits and the package in a big picture. Public universities provide a more relaxed working environment and better work-life balance.

Refer to:

ISAC and your host university can guide you through your work visa application including what to prepare, where to go for medical check, and for document authentication etc. The Z visa application process can be daunting at first sight, but you don’t need to worry as we got all the expertise to make it a smooth process.

It really depends on when and the situation at that time. It can vary, and usually it takes less than a week for a school to make a decision.

No, you need at least a bachelor’s degree to apply for a work visa.

You do not wish to work illegally in China.

Yes. A new teacher needs to have one of the following to be eligible:
1. TESOL/TEFL/CELTA Certificate on a 120 hours or more training or
2. Valid teaching certificate issued from your home country or
3. You majored in Education or Linguistics, and that should be shown in your diploma or transcript.

Unfortunately no. ISAC encourages teachers to teach their mother languages. For example, if you are from France and grow up in a French-speaking environment, the best option for you is a French teaching position.

You must have either one of these:

  1. Formal teaching experience for 2 years or more
  2. A TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certificate or teacher’s license from your home country
  3. Diploma in Education or Linguistics

As you can see from our job list, there are many universities and cities. Which one is the best fit for me?

One consideration is location and the other is university ranking. From our experience, for teachers who are new to China or new to the higher education, being open-minded and reliable is the key. Big city or small city, top level university or vocational college, they all have got pros and cons. A vocational college in a small city does not mean a bad experience; on the contrary many teachers in a small college enjoyed the experience of being close to nature, colleagues, being popular on campus because there are only a few foreign teachers at the school (See Brian, Esther). At top-level universities, the pro is the students are more willing to study but the con is that it is difficult to stand out (imagine working at a university with 30 foreign teachers, half of them have PhD degrees).

Our advice is to get to know the city and the university, know what is included and what is not, and go for it. The more important thing is to get all required visa documents ready. After a year or two of working, you will have a better idea where you are heading for the benefits of your career and life.

For university positions, you will work about 3, or 4, or 5 days a week, depending on your class schedule.

Yes, with satisfactory feedback or reference letter from your current employer.

Yes, as long as a university has more than 1 vacancy.

Yes, you can, although the additional cost (flight, insurance etc) needs to be borne by the teacher.

Other Questions

Yes. You will know which city and which school/university you will be teaching before you accept or deny a job offer.

Yes as long as you have a satisfactory feedback from your host school.

No. All our positions are for 10~12-month contract.

  1. Sign a contract directly with your employer, not with an agency. 
  2. Do not work on a tourist visa. We heard that in Thailand it is common practice to transfer from tourist to work visa, but in China, we do not suggest that method. It is risky and illegal.

Visa Document

No.

Admittedly, teachers who have the documents (criminal background check and diploma authentication) ready have advantages over those who do not, especially when a semester is going to an end. That’s partly because schools think foreign teachers who have them ready are more willing and dedicated to work in China than those do not (which sometimes may not be true). Plus it excludes the possibilities of delays and uncertainty.

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