Would it be presumptuous of me to apply as a university lecturer without MA?

13 comments

1. I guess it doesn’t hurt to apply and see what happens. Where’s the listing? It isn’t Westgate or something is it?

2. Yes.

3. Are you in the process of completing your MA? If so, then I think you should go ahead and apply. I’m about half a year from completing mine and my classmates have advised me to apply before graduating (they’ve gotten lecturer positions that way).

   If not, then unsure. It never hurts to try? Could be unlikely without the networking advantage though.

4. Worst they can do is say no

5. Nope, I worked for years at a university in Japan as a lecturer and had only a BA. You just need good shokai (a good person that has connections).

6. It probably can’t hurt much, but you might have better luck trying in February, which is when people suddenly back out of commitments for the next year.

7. You can’t get in trouble for applying for a job just because you lack the qualifications. Their resume reception service (Indeed, Gaijin Pot, etc) may kick back an immediate rejection and they may outright ignore you, but you never know unless you try. Obviously, don’t lie and claim you have experience you don’t, but everything else is fine.

   Some positions requiring a Master’s Degree have it because of minimal licensing requirements with their affiliated education office. If the job doesn’t have that requirement and the school will accept your CV, shoot your shot.

8. Full-time or Part-time?
   I mean, go for it, why not?
   PT you don’t need a MA or MS to get in to a PT position.

   If you have publications and other stuff that might make up for it, you never know….. maybe a FT contracted?

   Tenured would be an impossibility unless you are an expert in something.

   Best of luck!

9. As many other people have mentioned, networking and have good contacts is a big part of getting university work here. If you want to work on that, I’d recommend joining JALT. Every prefecture has a chapter and there are a lot of great special interest groups organizing regular events and presentations (online these days, of course). If you put some time into getting involved, you’ll be able to meet a lot of good people (most of whom work at or are connected to Japanese universities). That will help a lot in your search for work.

10. If you look at the requirements for most positions, they want people with master’s degrees, preferably in ESL but possibly in other fields as long as you have relevant work experience. However, some places such as Westgate are less demanding, although they pay a lot less too.

    If you’re not in a pinch, it makes more sense to finish your master’s degree and then apply for university teaching positions because if you apply now you probably will not have much luck.

11. I think like that as long as you meet the technical requirements of the position then you will probably be considered. Rather or not you have an effective way to demonstrate your ability may be the issue. Although, if we are talking English teaching then I believe that you ability in Japanese language may actually be more important than the degree level. I have heard that Japanese universities are fairly particular about having “fluent” Japanese speakers. Although, that may just mean natural sounding, conversational Japanese. Also, not easy.

12. You currently don’t have the job. So, applying is not going to change hurt your chances, so you may as well do it. At the very least, it’s practice and it starts getting you in the mindset of organising your CV, papers etc for appllications.

13. Go for it. It doesn’t matter what they call it….”professor”, “lecturer”, it’s still a joke title at the end of the day, compared to what these words actually mean back home. I know some joker who has the title of “professor”, is about 25 and works at a shitty university in my town as a dispatch employee.