JF
The CHINA UNIVERSITY OF GEOSCIENCES (BEIJING) is looking for four new instructors for the 2026-27 academic year, to fill positions in its Department (officially: School) of Foreign Languages in both our Beijing and Hainan campuses:
Beijing campus (Wudaokou):
(1) One literature instructor (with suitable MA or MFA) also able to handle EFL and culture-oriented courses.
(2) One EFL instructor also interested in teaching culture-oriented courses.
Hainan campus (Sanya, Linghsui district):
(1) Two EFL instructors also interested in teaching culture-oriented courses.
We are looking for responsible, well-educated and resourceful native speakers of English. Given current work permit rules in Beijing, they should hold a passport from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or RSA. We welcome applications from qualified candidates within China and currently abroad.
Candidates need, at a minimum, solid undergraduate training. In the case of the instructor for courses in English literature at the BA and MA levels, appropriate postgraduate training is necessary, or equivalent experience. Some experience of teaching, tutoring or training is also desirable.
The EFL instructors we hire should hold a good BA in English literature or related field in the humanities or in the social sciences (e.g. creative writing, classics, history, anthropology, linguistics, sociology, political economy, communication, area studies with literary content). Candidates with a BS/BSc or MS/MSc in the earth or environmental sciences are also welcome
Important: CELTA or reputable TEFL certification (120 hours) is needed to obtain a Chinese work permit unless the candidate has three years of teaching experience. An MA is helpful but definitely not required for the EFL posts.
SALARY. The base salary for teachers is currently 8500 yuan per month for BA holders. Staff will receive 9000 yuan per month if they have a relevant master’s degree. Teachers who stay on after the first year receive a 10% hike in salary for the first four renewals, using the newest base salary.
HOUSING. All foreign instructors, based in both Beijing and Sanya. are housed in individual furnished flats on or just off campus, provided without charge by the university; utilities are also covered. Walking time to all classrooms is 10-15 minutes.
TIMETABLE. The teaching load for foreign instructors in the Beijing campus is a maximum of 14 classroom hours or less per week, in keeping with guidelines issued by the Beijing Foreign Experts Bureau. The average teaching load is currently 10-12 hours per week in the Autumn semester and 6-8 hours in the Spring semester. The teaching load for instructors in the Hainan campus is a maximum of 14-16 hours per week.
OUR PROGRAM. The EFL teaching program emphasizes educated colloquial English, academic English, and Western culture; in several EFL courses attention is paid to the English of scientific discussion, though not of a highly technical sort. Our literature and culture courses are lecture-based at the undergraduate level, but at the MA level these give way, where possible, to seminars emphasizing close reading and more active student participation.
For 40 years we have had a very strong foreign staff: intellectually committed teachers who enjoy the challenges of teaching in China. We want teachers who take their students seriously and regard the classroom as an observatory for exploring contemporary Chinese culture and society.
Historically we have a high staff retention rate, with many teachers staying for three to five years or more.
Interested candidates should read this job announcement carefully and submit a CV and appropriate cover letter to Prof. James Bradley at ***
In your letter, please indicate which position (Literature/EFL) and location (Beijing/Hainan) you prefer.
For more detailed information on the 2026/7 positions at Dida, see below.
THE UNIVERSITY. The CHINA UNIVERSITY OF GEOSCIENCES, BEIJING (中国地质大学北京Zhongguo Dizhi Daxue Beijing or Dida) is a medium-sized government university located on a quiet, leafy, pleasant campus in Beijing's Haidian district, the university and electronics quarter in the northwestern part of the city. Foreign instructors live and teach on campus. Also in the neighborhood are Beijing University, Qinghua University, many divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a score of other institutions of higher education, plus the Summer Palace and the Yuanmingyuan (the park containing the ruins of the old summer palace destroyed in 1860). Just to the west of us is the lively Wudaokou neighborhood (also Wudaokou Station on Metro Line 13); five kilometers to the east is the main site of the 2008 Olympics, with the “Bird’s Nest” stadium. Just to the southeast is Zhongguancun, the main electronics and computer tech centre in North China.
The university, a “key” state institution, was the flagship school of the Ministry of Geology before the latter was absorbed into the new Ministry of Natural Resources; it is generally regarded as one of the top five academic centres of geological research in China. Don’t confuse us with our sister university in Wuhan!
TEACHING AT DIDA’S BEIJING CAMPUS. We teach:
** Undergraduates in a 4-year BA program in English
** MA candidates in English literature
** MA candidates in translation & interpretation or applied linguistics
** BSc candidates in an honors program (the earth sciences)
** First-year MSc candidates in the earth sciences or environmental sciences
** First-year PhD candidates in the earth or environmental sciences
An attempt is made to keep BA, BSc, MSc classes to a manageable size by Chinese standards, i.e. 20-35 students, and some MA courses are seminars with 8-18 students.
PhD classes are bigger, usually around 40 students these days. For their one-term oral and listening English classes, the doctoral candidates are sorted into levels on the basis of their English ability. Such a procedure, though normal elsewhere in the world, is unusual for China and helps us to get better results from limited contact.
UNDERGRAD COURSES. Many of the courses foreigners teach here focus on the oral and written English of everyday life or of a professional field. However, the undergraduate program puts some emphasis on literature and culture. One or two instructors with the proper background are chosen to lead a third-year course on British (autumn term) and American (spring term) literature. Also in the curriculum are undergraduate reading/lecture courses in foundational Greek and Hebrew literature and the cultural history of the West. In addition, we do a survey of British and American society, team-taught when staffing allows: A Briton lectures on aspects of the UK for 8 weeks while an American lectures on the US to another class; at mid-term they switch groups and repeat their module.
MA COURSES. The core of instruction for MA candidates in English literature is a block of five required one-term courses (History of English Literature, The 19th and 20th Century English Novel, Western Drama, Modern Poetry). In the novel courses the instructor leads students through a close reading of two to three works that he or she has chosen, sorting out language problems, eliciting genuine student response and inviting students to think of works of literature in terms of choices made by authors. Participants are also introduced to critical perspectives on the works under consideration.
MSc COURSES. Since the spring term of 2015 we have been tasked with designing and teaching two or three 32-hour electives in the humanities at the introductory level for our MSc candidates. Courses taught at one time or another have included introductions to the world of dance, the visual/plastic arts, British film, music appreciation, 20th-century US music, philosophical thinking, ancient Greek cultural history, science fiction, sci fi film, and the basics of debate, plus a regular elective in the English of the earth sciences.
EDUCATIONAL QUALITY. The China University of Geosciences is officially designated a “key” university, and, in rankings of Beijing campuses based on state-set exams, our student body as a whole typically falls in the second quartile from the top. Our learners have the usual mix of abilities found among university students in Beijing, from happily interactive near-fluency in English to the still far more common intense passivity and scant spoken English. Writing skills are a big problem, as everywhere in the PRC. The vast majority of Dida students are from outside Beijing; we have few Beijingers in our classes, but we deal with young people from everywhere else in the nation.
TEACHING AT DIDA’S HAINAN LINGSHUI CAMPUS.
Our newly opened campus is located in the southern island province of Hainan, a popular tropical holiday destination. Hainan is a special economic zone, adjacent to Hong Kong and south-east Asia. The campus is coastally situated just north of the Yalong and Haitang bays, well-known beach resorts with nearby hotels, surf-clubs, bars and restaurants. The campus is also part of the Sanya city district. Sanya city-centre is 30-40 minutes away by car and a rail link also runs from Lingshui to Sanya station.
Our campus in Hainan is a newly opened International College.
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