Assessment One Part One

Report on Professor Assistant job (Academician).

Market Yourself
Fatema Obaid
201101371

Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Purpose ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Terms of references .................................................................................................................................. 2
Methods .................................................................................................................................................... 2
The Interview ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Independent Research .................................................................................................................................. 4
Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
References .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

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Introduction

Purpose
This report aims to demonstrate an understanding of the nature of work by discussing a certain job
which is Professor Assistant (Academician) and identifying the generic competencies needed for this
position mainly in Bahrain. Also, it will show the differences and similarities between the job in Bahrain
and around the world.

Terms of references
The report was requested by Ms. Eman A. Alshamlawi, Faculty of Humanities tutor at Bahrain
Polytechnic. The report will be submitted to Ms. Alshamlawi on the 9th of April.

Methods
Much information in the report was collected from an interview that been held with Dr. Semih Erhan,
Assistant Professor in the department of Civil Engineering at University of Bahrain. Also, some
information was gathered from websites.

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The Interview
The interview was held with Dr. Semih Erhan, Assistant Professor in the department of Civil Engineering
at University of Bahrain on the 6th of April 2015 at his office in University of Bahrain. Number of
questions was set before the interview as included in the appendix. Dr. Erhan is an Assistant Professor in
University of Bahrain for two years and a half. He is Turkish; he applied for the job as a friend of him,
Prof. Saka; a professor in University of Bahrain, encourage him to apply for the position. Then his
application was evaluated by the department community and he got the offer to start his job. Dr. Erhan
got his BSC, MSC and PHD degrees from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Dr. Erhan
said that he like the environment he is working in and regarding the nature of work; most of the work is
generally teaching and lecturing; besides, making some research studies. He commented on the nature
of work as in the future there will be less teaching and more research activities. In order to get a similar
job like Dr. Erhan, he said that someone should get a degree from civil engineering (BSC degree) and
then should hold an MSC or PHD degree; if the person has MSC degree he will be a lecturer and if he
have a PHD degree he will be an assistant associated or full professor. In addition, experience is needed
for the position for a minimum of five years; the experience includes teaching experience and industrial
experience. In the interview, Dr. Erhan was asked about his responsibilities in his job; he said that his
responsibility in the department is teaching courses in BSC level. Besides that, the department has some
communities and some staff has some duties in these communities such as training community, senior
projects community, etc As well, some staff has some responsibilities for their research studies to
increase the research of the university. As a typical academic job the main duties are teaching and
making research; with providing some consultancies to industrial companies working closely with the
university, the skills that are required for this job are speaking English, teaching skills, remarkable
research skills and having knowledge about IT tools needed for engineering. Having knowledge about
information technology systems is a more value competency as there are sub-divisions in the
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department where there are some people that have competencies about some specific area and the
new applicants are evaluated for these competencies. Dr. Erhan thinks that this job is highly required in
Bahrain as University of Bahrain is a small university that is developing very fast and he always
recommends it to young near graduated students. Furthermore, the payment range for this job differ
from being a lecturer that has an MSC or PHD; a lecturer with a MSC degree would be paid about BD
1000 and a PHD degree would be paid a minimum of BD1,300. At the end of the interview, Dr. Erhan
recommends me to get a BSC degree in civil engineering and then get an MSC degree and PHD degree.
Unfortunately, he said that MSC and PHD degrees are limited in Bahrain; and he recommended me to
find some scholarships to continue my study abroad Bahrain and then I could get such a job in the
University of Bahrain. Additionally, he said that the academic jobs are available for all departments
which I could have a similar position in the Logistics industry as Bahrain is growing very fast and
universities required these jobs.

Independent Research
According to Merriam Webster, Academician is an associate of an academy for promoting science or
literature (Merriam Webster, 2015). The role of academician is to work in universities doing different
duties such as teaching, combining researches and administrative (The University of Manchester, 2015).
Many students around the world start their PHD degree and aiming to be an academician as the PHD
degree is required to get an academic position (Berry, 2012). To be a good academician and have a
secure job it is not enough to have only good PHD degree, you need also to have some essential skills to
succeed. These skills are: networking, time management, resilience, presentation skills, leadership and
management (The University of Manchester, 2015). As mentioned above, the academician has three
main responsibilities which are: teaching, research and administration (The University of Manchester,
2015). However, some academician works in research institutes where only research is produced and
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others only teach and give lectures as their contracts for teaching only (The University of Manchester,
2015). In addition, academician could also have the responsibility of developing teaching materials,
review journal articles, write references for students, organize workshops and read and write PHD
papers (The University of Manchester, 2015). The job of academician has lot of pressure. Despite that,
the payment range of Associate Professors and senior lecturers start from BD19,000 and could increase
to BD21,000 in United Kingdom (Berry, 2012).

Analysis
On one hand, there are many similarities between the information collected from the interview and the
research. For example, the nature of work is similar in both as it consists of teaching, research activities
and administrative work. Also, a Professor Assistant must have PHD degree. Furthermore, there are
some other responsibilities that most Professor Assistants have such as reviewing journal articles,
writing references for students and reviewing senior projects. In addition, some skills required are the
same such as language required, teaching skills, remarkable research skills and presentation skills. On
the other hand, some differences have been noticed in the information collected such as the payment
ranges; it differs from one country to another and from one university to another. For instant, in Bahrain
the minimum salary for the position is BD1,300 and it increase with experience; whereas in the United
Kingdom the payment range start from BD19,000 and it could increase up to BD21,000. Also, experience
years differ as some required a minimum of years and other does not. Furthermore, there are some
skills that are not required in every application for the job such as leadership, management, networking
and developed IT knowledge. These differences in the information collected are because of many
factors such as different universities that some are large and some are developing, the country or the
region where it differs because some countries has better reputation in teaching especially
internationally, number of experience years, the history of the university and the PHD letter.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, the position of Professor Assistant (Academician) is a high qualified job and it has the aim
of delivering knowledge to others. In relation to my academic qualifications, I am in the first stage of my
way towards getting such a job; as I am a senior student that are going to finish BSC degree. However, I
am studying International Logistics Management not Civil Engineering. Despite that, the academician job
is available for all majors and departments as Dr. Semih Erhan said in the interview. As a result, I can be
a Professor Assistant (Academician) in my field.
In order to apply for such a job I need to finish my study first by taking the BSC, MSC and PHD degrees.
Also, I need to work in the industry to gain some experience as some universities might require. In
addition, I need to improve my teaching and presenting skills by registering in courses and attending
conferences and seminars. Moreover, I need to increase my networks by meeting new people and
gaining more relations. Furthermore, I need to do extensive research studies on the industry that I am
interested in; the International Logistics Management and specifically the supply chain.
Finally, I am still interested in this job and I hope I get the opportunities to finish my study and get the
PHD degree to work as an academician in university even if it is out-side Bahrain; as the knowledge must
be shared and this job will keep me up to date with all changes that occur in the field as it requires
sustained research activities.

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References

Berry, P. D. (2012, November). Becoming a university academic. Retrieved from University of Reading:
https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/graduateschool/GSG_BecomingAUniversityAcademic.pdf

Merriam Webster. (2015). Definition of ACADEMICIAN. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/academician

The University of Manchester. (2015). Essential skills and qualities of a successful academic. Retrieved
from An Academic Career: http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/skills/

The University of Manchester. (2015). Lifestyle as an academic. Retrieved from Ac Academic Career:
http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/lifestyle/

The University of Manchester. (2015). What do academics do? Retrieved from An Academic Career:
http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/

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Appendix
The interview questions
1. What is your job or position?
2. How many years you have been working in this job?
3. How did you get the job?
4. Where did you study?
5. How is the nature of work?
6. What educational achievements are needed to get this job?
7. Is experience needed for this job? If yes, how many years as minimum?
8. What are your responsibilities in the job?
9. What are the generic competencies required?
10. Are there any skills required for this job? If yes, what are they?
11. Is this job required in Bahrain?
12. What is the minimum salary for this job or the payment range?
13. As a student that does not study engineering, what recommendations you could
give me to get a similar job?

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