Starting next year, you can use research funds from a JSPS Kakenhi grant to pay a part-timer to teach your classes for you, so that you can instead use the time to work on your research. I took the money I was planning on using for international travel next year (not happening now for obvious reasons) and instead am buying out a few of my classes. This will bring me down to a 2-day teaching week.
Info on it here:
https://www.e-grant.jp/buy-out.jsp
You may not have a kakenhi grant *now*, but this is a damn good incentive to apply for one in the future! You may have thought a research grant would be too much work to go through above and beyond your teaching load. Well, not anymore!
Caveat: For this scheme to work, your institution will have to agree to it. Mine jumped right on board and actively promoted it to us, but I don’t know what other universities are up to. It could be on the books, but just not as heavily promoted. Interested to hear what other places are doing on this front.
8 comments
Grats! Hope your rEsearch gets recognized! 🙂
I have mixed feelings about that. I can understand using Kakenhi money to hire assistants and technicians, but part time lectures…
Our institution currently allocates research days / generous funding to all FT teachers, so I don’t think they would use this.
I could see this being used for graduate assistants as a way to fund them. I wonder if the research grant would allow that or if a university has to hire PT lecturers based on their requirements.
This sounds like a pyramid scheme like in communist Russia where people paid people to stand in line for food for them.
Good news to all those teachers studying for a master to get in university teaching though! They can teach on behalf of the existing teachers. Maybe one day they too can exploit the young and inexperienced.
Wow….. I mistook the deadline this year but I’ll certainly be looking at applying next year!
Thanks for the info. Now I just need a way to integrate golfing trips with English language learning curriculum….. ha
I can’t bring in enough funding to make this work at the moment, but just considering the implications and reading the debates here puts a lot in perspective. Thanks for posting!
How much are your part timers going to be paid?
I guess some Uncle Tom gaijins will be purring with delight. They can pay Filipinos and Indians 1,000 yen an hour to do their work for them.