BEING recently appointed as a part-time tutor to a course in the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (OLI), I must say that I was disappointed at the administration and the OLI council that no adjustment has been made in tutors' pay.
However, it still advertises that attractive salaries can be expected. This cannot be justified.
After speaking with several tutors some interesting facts have emerged.
When OLI started in October 1989, its hourly rate paid to the tutors were competitive and equivalent to other part-time staff teaching at other tertiary institutions. However, now into its fifth year, the administration has only raised the pay once (October 1991) by 12 per cent. But for the permanent staff members it is interesting to note that their pay has been in line, every year, to counter the inflation.
The OLI is vying to be a self-supporting institution by next year and most likely it is going to succeed at the expense of poorly paid tutors.
The OLI tells tutors they are ''very important'' and are the front for the institute as they are the people who come in contact directly with the students.