faculty

administrative assistant

student advisor

student assistant

assistant professor

University Canada West

Pros: 
Great place to work in regards to management team, HR team, team leaders and other employees. A very multi-cultural and teamwork engaged environment. Perks consisted of casual Fridays and fun office held parties. If you enjoy customer service positions and a job role where you can mentor students etc. then its a great place for someone to start to build those skills and build your resume if your goal is to work in higher education. 
Cons:
Poor business model overall. The company expanded too fast, hired too many employees within the span of a few months, therefore training lacked and company goals/targets ran very high. Employees were to make an average of 75 outgoing calls a day in addition to replying to multiple emails a day along with managing manually inputting student applications into system which was very grueling - system was not updated to match new workload balance -  Basically after a while you felt like a robot just trying to make sales, the sales targets did not match up to the amount of daily work load that they wanted to output. Became a sales/call center job. All of the cons however have nothing to do with on site management, more so to do with the owners and operators of Global University Systems. 

All in all great workplace culture just poor company model.

I like working here. This is my best teaching experience, and I have taught for 20 years in Canada. I like the transparency, open communication lines, academic and technical support, continuous improvement programs, the availability of academic resources,  and, in general, the environment that encourages professional growth. I admire my talented colleagues, and some of them show an incredible level of worldwide academic and research relevance. It will be a year of working here soon, and I hope to stay for a long time because I am happy and motivated to contribute to this institution. 
If I think about the hardest parts, for example, the workload, I cannot view it negatively because more work means more pay. I may also say that classroom management can be challenging at times, but, on the other hand, it is what it should be - the life of a teacher is challenging and rewarding.
What I learned here is the dynamics of a large workplace and how to balance all work demands and multiple training sessions.

To put simply, this institution has a toxic work culture. I have never worked in an environment that is so toxic that employee morale is so low and they feel scared of certain managers. They are not true to their words and if you get in their ‘bad books’, forget about being treated well. I had was given the cold shoulder from a number of managers because I stood up and challenged the status quo. I even went straight to the top because I needed to make sure I was brave to address issues that lacked transparency. 

The hours are long and they have a focus on a machinist style of work. I won’t lie, there are a few nice things they try to do like celebrate your birthdays (even if you don’t consent to it); freebies like umbrellas when it’s pouring; and a hoodie if you pass your probation! (don’t ask for one prior because you won’t get it).  

It is very unfortunate that the work environment is so toxic because the students are great and have so much to offer and to help raise the profile of this institution and help them become a great business school. 

My time at UCW was incredibly disheartening. The work environment was exceptionally toxic, with a high level of micromanagement from supervisors. Managers constantly hovered over tasks, leaving no room for autonomy or professional growth. I was constantly overwhelmed with an unmanageable workload, which led to persistent stress and burnout. Additionally, I faced discriminatory behavior that went unaddressed, creating a hostile atmosphere. The lack of support from management was equally troubling; concerns and feedback were often ignored, making it difficult to thrive or feel valued. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend UCW as a positive workplace
Lead of HR operations has zero knowledge of laws or policies. Completely unfair and biased. Just wants to climb the ladder by lobbying the seniors. Big on office politics and snooty. Has created intimidating and toxic work culture.

 I taught for this company online for one two month semester. The opportunity to teach international students in my field was fine, but the lack of computer support was mindboggling. With virtually every technical problem I  had, there was no one officially assigned with the duty of providing answers, it was done on an almost ad hoc basis. Getting answers for what should have been routine questions was like pulling teeth.  Lack of communication was also a poor reflection on this clown show. When the Fall semester ended, I devoted the Christmas holidays to improving my lectures for my second go at the course. I then found out in the first week of January that there was no class for me to teach for contradictory reasons, either enrolment was down or my problems with entering grades was held against me.  Extremely unprofessional. 

The presence of a horrible department head implies a lack of effective leadership, which can lead to confusion, miscommunication, and a general lack of direction.

Someone got terminated without any notifications in advanced. They treat people just like the numbers. Do your thing and be quiet. Those bragging out or their own friends and family members get promotion fast.  

A high turnover rate within this terrible department. Talented employees are likely to seek better opportunities elsewhere in order to escape the negative environment and find a workplace that values their contributions. Before joining UCW, I've heard of its bad reputation and now I think it's way more worse.  It's not an happy end for me, but I'm more comfortable with a high valued and ethic working environment. 

Management likes to dictate and give unclear direction…you’re just expected to know everything. They will come down hard on you if make a mistake, even if not your fault. Your ideas aren’t really heard, things are already decided for you. 

Growth opportunities are not really there, the ones on top want to assure they’re untouched and your salary will be poor (they say it’s industry standard but it’s not if you look around). 

People are very busy and it’s hard for them to get back to you on anything so getting things moving can be a pain. 

You’ll deal with lots of questions about the legitimacy of the university and there’s high employee turnover. (You can just look at reviews here and on Glassdoor)

Culture isn’t great, seems a lot don’t really want to gather outside of work, probably a bit rundown by work at that point. 

Find a place that values you and wants to see you succeed, not just tell you what you’re doing wrong and what needs to be done. 

The employee benefits were great, and compensation was good as well (specially as they matched my request to get paid beyond the scale).
But from an educational perspective and management, it is not a great place. On the education side, Chairs expect you to match an arbitrary average, despite the small class sizes. In one case, I had to give everyone in my 3 classes 15% to be fair, because one of those three classes was way below the average the Chairs expect. The good students are strong, but the bulk of students are weak, and many cheat (about 30% of my classes). Many instructors do not take their role seriously, which then backfires on those that do. On the management side, the organization does not have a clear strategy and plan for where it is heading: random programs are proposed, committees are created to redesign the program, that end up reaffirming the existing program without any change.

From the moment I stepped into my department, I was met with an environment that seemed to thrive on negativity and competition. The pervasive toxicity has fostered a sense of mistrust among colleagues, stifling collaboration and innovation. Rather than working together to achieve common goals, I found myself navigating a battlefield of egos, where credit theft and power struggles were far more prevalent than teamwork. A high turnover rate within the recruitment department and I've witnessed many unfair things among the teams. Almost no communication among different departments. Even team members jokes with themselves with the stupid and lazy work performance. 



A typical day at UCW in a recruitment role was marked by relentless pressure to achieve unattainable targets, coupled with a lack of managerial support or direction. Management exhibited disorganization and consistently failed to address employee grievances effectively. 

The most challenging aspect of the job revolved around navigating unethical practices and enduring persistent job insecurity. Many colleagues were actively seeking alternative employment opportunities or exploring internal department transfers due to the toxic work environment. Those committed to high work ethics and morale endured daily suffering.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Faculty 1 salary reported	$126,480 per year
Administrative assistant 6 salaries reported	$50,750 per year
Student advisor 4 salaries reported	$60,000 per year
Student assistant 4 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Assistant professor 5 salaries reported	$99,100 per year

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