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June 30, 2015

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Home » Metro » Society

Uni course teaches the art of housekeeping

By Chen Huizhi | June 30, 2015, Tuesday | Print Edition

FIVE Shanghai-based ayi recently became the first graduates of an associate degree program offered by Shanghai Open University, set up to help housekeepers learn new skills and increase their chances of landing a well-paid job.

Enrolled in the autumn 2012, the women — all migrant workers in Shanghai — studied a wide range of subjects, including English, cooking, first aid, manners, family psychology and flower arranging.

“The city is demanding more highly qualified ayi than ever before,” said Xu Hongzhuo, program coordinator and lecturer at the Department of Home Economics and Health Management of the university.

The program, which holds classes in 12 of the university’s campuses, has enrolled 760 students since 2012. About 40 percent of them are ayi. The rest include home help service managers and nurses.

For ayi, the course is a chance to take a step up the job ladder. Many women move to Shanghai from poor rural areas of China with minimal education, lack of knowledge about foreign customs and poor communications skills. In the past, they had little hope of improving their circumstances.

Tang Wenxia, 35, an ayi from east China’s Anhui Province who has been working for expat families for nine years, was among the new graduates.

She said entered the program to build up her credentials in a job she loves.

“After the studies, I found myself more objective in dealing with disagreements and more attentive to details of manners, such as shaking hands when meeting people,” said Tang.

Another graduate, Zhang Jun, 41, from central China’s Henan Province, said she has been a housekeeper in Shanghai since 2005 but didn’t land a job with an expat family until 18 months ago.

She said her participation in the education program helped her get the job.

“I felt more confident,” said Zhang.

“I was ready to challenge myself and I’m always looking to learn. It opened up a whole new horizon for me.”

Ayi who do mainly cleaning, laundry, ironing and cooking can earn up to 30 percent more working for an expat family than a Chinese family.

The average hourly wage is about 30 yuan (US$5), according to yunjiazheng.com, one of the largest home help employment websites in China.

Expats in the city are varied in their assessments of hired help. Some said education isn’t the most important qualification they look for.

“The most important is experience, and not necessarily a degree,” said Michelle Russell, who said she is happy with her current ayi, whose education stopped at junior middle school.

But others are picky about whom they hire to take care of their homes.

“Some expats ask us for ayi specialized in cooking or ironing,” said Zhou Dongxiu, manager of Zhanying Home Help Service in the Yangpu District, who has been in the business for 10 years.

“Cultural misunderstandings are a major reason why ayi lose their jobs.”

Zhou said more than 20 of the registered ayi at her company have signed up for the open university program.

It costs about 7,000 yuan to complete all of the courses in the program. Classes are held at weekends twice a month.

Also, as most of the students also work, they are allowed to take up to eight years to complete the program.

Society


 

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