"BKC – International House is one of the most respected Language Schools in Russia. Being a member of the International House World Organization our School is regularly inspected by the International House representatives to ensure maintenance of educational and welfare standards".
- BKC-International House Moscow is not a respected language school. One needs only to look at blogs by both teachers and students to recognize that this is hyperbole and nothing more.
- BKC-IH Moscow is not "regularly inspected" by International House. There is no evidence that International House pays Moscow any visits. BKC-IH Moscow pays a yearly fee to International House to use the IH name brand to lend more credibility to an otherwise unsupervised school engaged in unethical and illegal activities.
- Not factual. Many teachers come to this school with no experience whatsoever.
- Salary: $ 1040-1160 - The salary has been lowered once again from previous years.
- Length: 8 months and 3 weeks - Untrue: your contract is actually more like 10 months when your holiday time is counted.
- Benefits: end of the contract bonus –up to US $ 1000 - The contract states that you will be paid this bonus if they feel like giving it to you.
- Visa support - Not exactly. BKC-IH Moscow is having many problems with visas for teachers. Teachers absolutely cannot count on BKC Moscow to tell the truth about the visa situation or fairly reimburse the visa costs.
- Shared accommodation - True.
- Local transport paid by the school - True, though it comes in the form of reimbursement.
- Airfare subsidy - True, but the amount changes. You may be told the round-trip airfare reimbursement will be $1,000 and then later in the contract, it will be changed to less than that.
- Paid holidays - Not always true
- Health care - True but perhaps not what the average person believes to be "health care".
- 50% discount for Russian classes - True. After the discount, it is approximately $90 USD monthly.
- Hourly paid positions are available as well. The rates range from $ 22-31 per academic hour. True, but as an hourly employee you are at the mercy of the Timetable ladies who may not give you enough hours to survive.
From an anonymous comment:
ReplyDelete"There was an IH inspection in November 2008. The summary of their report is on the teachers' forum."
Response from us: So what? IH doesn't do anything except collect money. The "inspection" is bullshit. It is a mere formality, as you well know if you are employed by BKC. No real inspection was done, because if it had been the school would be shut down in a heartbeat.