GTG

Only one thing good ever happened in this over-priced and corny dump.

Buddy Guy played there one night in the early 1990s.

It was one of the best gigs ever in Bangkok -- a legendary musician of true quality right up close.

So well done, Hard Rock Bangkok, one good night in two decades of existence.

Make that two. I saw Chris Isaak and his band tear the place apart in 1994 0r 1995. Chris and the sax player up on the bar, fantastic atmosphere. To be honest, one of the best gigs I ever saw, anywhere, and there have been many.

From CNN

Steven Hall, a British national injured in the blaze, told CNN that flames began to spread along the ceiling above the stage where a band and DJ were performing. But some people appeared to believe it was part of the performance.

Thanks for that! Must have been a list of injured survivors then, unless there were two! Good news then, for some ......

News footage showed a list of about 2 dozen names at one hospital, presumably the deceased. Only one not in Thai - a 'Steven Hall'. Don't really know if it is appropriate to post that here, but given the difficulty in getting information in these situations .....

Sincerely hope that none of you knew him.

I now have mental images of old toothless ladies masturbating.... 

....... and ejaculating!?!

Oh well, it felt good for about a day! Went to collect my letter of 'degree equivalence' to find, as far as I can tell, a letter which basically says that my HND is equivalent to an Associate Diploma as issued by Thai colleges, no mention of the Cert Ed - as far as I can tell it wasn't even included in the submission because they will 'only consider the highest rated of your qualifications' and wouldn't consider the two diplomas plus n years experience as a 'package', no sign of the letters I faxed them from the Unis among the paperwork, basically after over 4 months' wait, nothing of any use whatsoever!

Sorry if I got your hopes up, Carebear, but another approach may be needed!

La di da

In the end I decided that the best thing to do in the long term was to do whatever was necessary to get a 'proper' degree so I applied through the UK Open University for credit transfer on my existing qualifications which gave me 60% of the points needed for a BSc. Since February I have been doing 2 courses (which they recommend as the maximum for a year's full-time study (I was also doing 2 jobs at the time!). In October I will complete these and be fully up to requirements. Been a LONG time since I studied but I've enjoyed it all so far.

Meanwhile I applied for another job this week, having parted company with the previous employer a couple of months ago - no regrets, coyote! - and things seem very promising. Only problem is that they have 2 salary scales, a separate one for staff who aren't fully qualified which I would be placed on for however long it took to get verification that I have completed my degree. Bad news! (I have 3 others to support!)

Literally 5 minutes after my first post on this thread I received an e-mail from the Bureau for Higher Education telling me that the letter confirming 'degree equivalence' which I applied for about 5 months ago and didn't think I would get, is now awaiting my collection. Does God read this board?

Carebear, the person I dealt with at the Bureau was Khun Sombat. Tel. 023545481. You'll find more details through Google. They seemed quite thorough. Apart from taking copies of all original documents, they also wanted verification from the insitutions where I studied. They were both Polys which now have University status and he thought the headed paper with their new names would help, especially as the awarding bodies of my qualifications were both also defunct, the CNAA and BEC. Took a while to get, 25-30 years on, but in the end ........

Obviously this is easier if you are in-country but probably possible from outside. UK NARIC might be easier.

Could EASILY make this happen to be honest maty, it's getting them to try.

I felt that at the time, KK, that it was probably as much down to an arbitrary decision by the clerk de jour which if they simply resubmitted the application, it might be accepted. The application was never rejected, so there was nothing which would be flagged on my file. They simply wouldn't take the paperwork as it stood. Had it been one of my previous schools, I didn't feel there would have been a problem, but the government liaison woman was a bit of a wimp and simply responded 'mai dai' evrey time I suggested something else. Amusingly enough, I jokingly suggest a shopping trip for a degree and was told this would be fine, any subject! When I mentioned this in passing to her superior, she had to quickly retract and say of course she was joking. I still have a copy of her memo!

Not at all mate, a degree is NOT essential if your employer is willing to go to bat for you. They just have to show the ability to teach at the end of the day (but agreed still easier said than done)

Well, your experience, or your friends', may be different to mine. I think in the original poster's case though, this is a major issue becasue the school aren't willing to give him the chance to prove what he can do.

The actual wording in the regulations, I believe, translates to Bachelor's Degree OR EQUIVALENT but there is nothing that states what they would accept as equivalent.

I didn't even know it was written anywhere, can you show me or link me to the site?

No, sorry, I only saw this in the copy of the regulations at the school. The law WAS changed before I left Thailand before, 2001 or 2002, but they have started to apply it more rigidly now. I think people currently in posts are OK, but if and when they leave, and an application for a new licence has to be made, then problems will/may arise.

You should easily have been able to get a TL and WP, were you looking to teach something special though? Where, who and what?

No, same as I got a licence/WP for before for 9 years. Business/ICT, Bangkok, small international school

You could try contacting UK NARIC and givng them details of your qualifications to see what they can offer, or you can also submit your details to the Thai Bureau for Higher Education on Sri Ayuttaya.

Certainly won't hurt to try.

Well, it certainly won't! See next post!!

No keep trying, the school if it pushes hard enough can get you legit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As TIT then I would imagine that schools with the right connections COULD possibly make this happen but, from my own sad experience, what carebear's prospective employers are telling him is quite correct, maybe they are my (former!) employers having learned from their previous mistake!?

The Cert Ed is the same course as a PGCE but you dont have a degree, PGCE is Post Grad Certificate in Ed. I also have Initial, Stage 1 & 2 in teaching. Which are the 7307 courses. All the teaching courses together took me 3 years to gain, so same amount of time as a degree but not a degree. I have been offered 3 jobs, but then they have all backed off saying they don't think ministry of Ed will accept this. With the latest I have to get a formal letter to say a Cert Ed is exactly equivalent to a BEd or a PGCE with a degree, it is not either. So i lose out on another job. Do you think it is pointless me trying??

The stumbling block is a change in attitude or interpretation of the rules at the Ministry of Education. Before they will issue a teacher's licence they now want to see the magic words 'Bachelor's Degree' as a minimum. The actual wording in the regulations, I believe, translates to Bachelor's Degree OR EQUIVALENT but there is nothing that states what they would accept as equivalent. I qualified in the UK in 1980, via a similar route, HND, industrial experience, then a Cert Ed. Did 13 years in the UK, then 9 in Thailand at 2 very prestigious schools, with teacher's licence and work permit. Went back to the UK for 2 years and then returned to a new job here and was refused. I got a letter from the GTC verifying that I have QTS (Qualiifed Teacher Status) in the UK and have held that for 25 years - not enough!

Depending on how you want to pursue things, it is worth considering that the Ministry do not have the resources to check on the authenticity of your degree, only that the institution that issued it is on the approved list in their little brown books. It is the responsibility of your employer to check that your degree is legit before they submit the paperwork - how many do you think actually do that?

Thus, something picked up on an afternoon's shopping in <not allowed sorry KK> would be better than an expensive purchase from a degree mill online. In fact that would probably be worth more than the combined total of my qualifications and experience!

You could try contacting UK NARIC and givng them details of your qualifications to see what they can offer, or you can also submit your details to the Thai Bureau for Higher Education on Sri Ayuttaya.

Good luck, you will probably need it!

Yes, and furtermore that number is the "official" number and closed on weekends and the number written is also wrong ! 001 is area code for the US.

Correct number is : +41-227346001

Nick

001 is the international dialling code from Thailand - ie, what you have to press if you don't have a '+' button. Though it's much cheaper to dial 009 .....