IASAS

runningsloth
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Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 4:51 am

IASAS

Post by runningsloth »

Just curious how one would rank the schools in the IASAS conference based on overall package vs. cost of living. Which school would you make out the best at assuming your lifestyle was the same in each city?

International School of Bangkok
International School of Kuala Lumpur
Taipei American School
Jakarta Intercultural School
International School of Manila
Singapore American School
PsyGuy
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Response

Post by PsyGuy »

International School of Bangkok
International School of Manila
Jakarta Intercultural School
Taipei American School
International School of Kuala Lumpur
Singapore American School

Earning and saving potential with all these ISs is going to have the highest potential for there given regions.

BKK has had growing cost of living, and while you cant spend the summer on the beach for $500 easily anymore, ISB has one of the top compensation packages in Asia, and most of the day to day expenses can still be easily managed financially.

ISM is the top paying IS in the Philippines and its the Philippines, its essentially an impoverished third word country, meaning costs are low and good cheap.

The same is true for JIS and Indonesia. There are very frugal options if your willing to pursue them, and with a top paying salary, finances and cost of living are easily managed. You just have to live in Indonesia.

ISM and ISB regions allow you access to services and goods that you couldnt get in more restrictive regions on this list.

TAS is a top paying IS but while you can get cheap in parts of Taiwan, Taipei is a serious financial city, lots of people have coin to burn, and when you raise the quality of life you generally raise the cost of living well. Still its China and living on the economy is possible.

Much of the same is true for ISKL, top compensation, but Malaysians have developed expensive tastes, and its hard to escape the economy in KL.

SAS, Singapore is just crazy expensive, and with a knowledge based economy just about everything is imported, and with restricted land availability housing costs are the highest in the world. Everything is expensive in SG, from housing, and food, to cars and entertainment.
shadowjack
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Re: IASAS

Post by shadowjack »

The Philippines are more expensive than what they used to be. You can still save coin at ISM, but not as much as you used to. That's what my friends tell me.
yoplay
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Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:19 pm

Re: IASAS

Post by yoplay »

I've only worked at one of those schools, and here's gist I got of it (bear in mind, that aside from the one school I had first hand experience with, everything else is word of mouth):
-TAS's package is ridiculous and tops of the schools. Word has it that admin has taken the direction of the school towards trying to be an elite east coast U.S. private school type of place. That's a deal breaker for me(and proabably me for them!), maybe not for others.
-SAS has an excellent package that from what I understand is on par with ISB
-ISKL - a sneaky choice among these major school. Package on paper maybe doesn't look as great as SAS or ISB, but the savings is supposed to be right on par with those two.
-ISM and JIS - Can't really speak on either of these two as I just don't know.
senator
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Re: IASAS

Post by senator »

Manila and Jakarta OUT! - pollution and traffic

Singapore OUT! - expensive and boring

Bangkok MAYBE - pollution, yes,but cheap and the country is GREAT!!

Taipei NEVER BEEN

Kuala Lumpur YES! GREAT country, pretty cheap, not much pollution, interesting city with LOTS to do, traffic is bad at times but not so bad at to be a hardship, EPF is FANTASTIC!!!
runningsloth
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Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 4:51 am

Re: IASAS

Post by runningsloth »

Thanks for the perspectives. Let's throw a wrench in there. Let's say you have 2 little kids and have to include that as part of the consideration, would it change your rankings? I would think Singapore moves up and Manila and Jakarta both move down.
vandsmith
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Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 12:16 am

Re: IASAS

Post by vandsmith »

only from friends' experiences, i would actually say ISKL wins - with kids, for cost of living, and savings.

not from my own experience though.

all seem to be good schools though!

v.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

With two young children:

Singapore American School
International School of Kuala Lumpur
International School of Manila
International School of Bangkok
Taipei American School
Jakarta Intercultural School
senator
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Re: IASAS

Post by senator »

It's still KL. GREAT place for kids - every condo has a pool, lots of extracurricular activities, like little league, and a lot cheaper than Singapore.

TRUST ME on this.
buffalofan
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Re: IASAS

Post by buffalofan »

No way I would live in Jakarta, or Manila for that matter. Any of the other schools would be an excellent choices. The top choice for me would be a toss up between ISB and ISKL, but I'd probably lean slightly towards ISKL.
nikkor
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Re: IASAS

Post by nikkor »

To answer the question about which school with kids, I would choose Manila. Teachers can rent a large house in a gated neighborhood with a swimming pool and a house cleaner, gardner, driver, and childcare.
kuwaitikid
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Re: IASAS

Post by kuwaitikid »

I am more familiar with the countries than the schools. Singapore offers the best standard of living but with the associated costs. Bangkok, would be my prefered option and at the bottom of the pile would come Indonesia, and specifically Jakarta, where I currently reside. Traffic, corruption, government interference in the running of international schools and less well documented, climate and mosquitoes (dengue fever is common here) make this a true hardship posting. Not to mention the fact that the two major international schools, one of which is JIS, are both experiencing considerable internal difficulties, leading to very high staff turnover.
matts1w
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Re: IASAS

Post by matts1w »

"Not to mention the fact that the two major international schools, one of which is JIS, are both experiencing considerable internal difficulties, leading to very high staff turnover."

The fact is the difficulties at JIS have not yet led to high staff turnover. Perhaps that will change next year...perhaps not...but to date this is not the case. It is also very misleading to say the difficulties we are experiencing are "internal" as faculty, administration, parents, and students are still united and supporting each other. The other "major international" school was absolutely pummeled from within, but the JIS family is still hanging strong despite the lies that assault our school.

The realities of international teaching in Indonesia are troubling at best right now. One should absolutely do their homework before deciding to come here, but to imply that JIS is internally falling apart is flat-out wrong. Our campus is as strong as it can be. Period. End of story.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Comment

Post by PsyGuy »

JIS is having no recruiting or staffing difficulties.
hallier
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Re: IASAS

Post by hallier »

Concur with previous comments about JIS.

Although apparently, a few of their new recruits have changed their mind, causing some late recruiting this year.

Actually think JIS is a terrific option (toxic nature of bureaucracy/judicial system aside) for young families, as child-care, nannies, cooks, cleaners etc are easy and cheap to hire, housing is great for families, and there is a lot to do in the JIS community for younger children.

Once they get to the end of middle school, I'd head for other locations, as I am not sure Jakarta is a great city for raising teenagers.

I agree with most of the posts about the IASAS schools - however, I am not sure that IS Manila has that great a package. I know that a few years ago, their salary was well below the other IASAS schools. Although the cost of living there is certainly low, I am not sure the savings potential would match JIS, ISKL, TAS and ISB.

For savings potential (not standard of living), my guess would be:

JIS
ISB
TAS/ISKL
SAS/ISM

A lot would depend on lifestyle, of course. Have a friend at SAS who only eats at Hawker places and has an apartment that is within his housing allowance. He is saving heaps.
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