richard10365

Keep in mind that this rule only applies to the so called "Thai language Schools."

If you know how international diplomats talk, then you would realize without reading the story, the headline is false.

Actually, I've heard reports of the 5 star hotels in Chiang Mai mostly booked.

This is the beginning of the high season - if hotels are at 100% they are fully booked - if they are at 80% or 90% they may at times still be fully booked, but it represents a 10 to 20% drop in customers.....

I don't think you can depend on what traditionally was the high season in the past. As I mentioned before, the university academic calendar changed in ASEAN. There will be December Christmas holidays and summer vacation starting in June. I expect K-12 schools to change their schedule in the future because parents will demand it so they can all travel at the same time. Right now it is only the universities.

December will turn into a travel month and then nothing until Songran. Then I expect the high season to run from June to August which would allow students and their families to be free to travel. Then nothing again until December. Then the process will repeat.

Of course, this is just my opinion but this is what happens in the west on the same academic calendar. Right now no one knows because this is the first year for the change.

Keep in mind, Thailand just switched it university schedule and might impact when Thai people go on holiday. In 2 weeks all universities in Thailand will have a Christmas/New Year holiday. Get ready to see a surge in tourism activity. The new high season will start in June after schools close for the summer. So everyone just calm down and enjoy the show.

Domestic tourism is part of tourism in Thailand. Everyone stop acting like Thailand will die without the farangs. You guys are giving yourself way more credit than you really deserve.

Sure the coup has an impact but so did all the democratic protest (where people were dying) that led up to the coup. Also the university schedule did not just change for Thailand, it changed for all of ASEAN. Add to that the rising incomes and growing middle class, additional low cost carriers, open skys is about to happen and people will be on the move.

Now things are stable and for the first time, tourism can have the impact it normally would have. Enjoy the hotel discounts everyone because next year, demand will be back to normal and prices will increase.....but no doubt, everyone on ThaiVisa will complain and find someone to blame for that too.

Relax everyone....everything will be ok.

Keep in mind, Thailand just switched it university schedule and might impact when Thai people go on holiday. In 2 weeks all universities in Thailand will have a Christmas/New Year holiday. Get ready to see a surge in tourism activity. The new high season will start in June after schools close for the summer. So everyone just calm down and enjoy the show.

Actually, I've heard reports of the 5 star hotels in Chiang Mai mostly booked.

While he cannot be a tour guide, he could have legally had a tourism agency (up to 49% equity) as joint venture with a Thai person and then paid the Thai to guide the tours. Of course he would have had to go through the process of legally setting up the business. For that, it's best to get a lawyer before the business starts rather than after.

Perhaps he thought differently because a Thai person could do in his country what he was doing in Thailand.....assuming they went through the process of legally starting a business in Kyrgyzstan .

Great White, I'm curious, why don't you want to get a degree?

Southeast Asia is going through an integration process. We are only at the very beginning of this process. ASEAN has been liberalizing restrictions on service jobs (in all 12 service sectors as defined by the WTO) for ASEAN citizens since 1995. This means that slowly, the entire labor force of the ASEAN countries will being merged into one. This includes all forms of teaching.

In 2012, the size of the ASEAN labor force (according to the World Bank) was 310 million people with an annual growth rate of 2% which would put the labor force this year at around 322 million people . Not everyone in the labor force wants to be an English teacher but there are a lot that do and they are going to a university to earn a degree so they can compete in the ASEAN labor market. The more ASEAN English teachers integrate into the English teaching market, the less the number of Western native English teachers the ASEAN countries will need.

It's only a matter of time before ASEAN education standards in all levels of education are integrated. This has already started with the ASEAN University Network (AUN).

I do not expect teaching qualifications to get any easier as ASEAN continues its integration process. Most likely ASEAN will have an agreed upon minimum standard in the future. If you are not qualified you may find yourself unemployed, just like many western English teachers are finding out now as Thailand's requirements are changing, .

A degree gives you options. Not having one limits your options to whatever is offered to you. Unless you're already rich, without a degree there is a good chance you, and whatever family you create in the future, will be poor for the rest of your life.

I do wish you the best of luck because moving into this labor market with no qualifications is risky.

Maybe if they dogs were taken care of and killed nicely like cows and pigs they would feel better about eating dog meat.

Since this is an opinionated story, I thought I would give my opinion too.

I think every country has it's fair share of problems. Look at the USA. OMG! What a violent country that is. Shootings in schools, drugs being legalized, gangs, rapes, crime, riots, free for all media and the glorification of the American warrior and that way of life are some of my concerns for the "leader of the free world." Its not the country I grew up in or spent 20 years defending. I don't even want to get into what I think of the American democratic process or how public opinion is controlled by the media such as Fox News and CNN. American's do love this type of society. If they didn't, they would change. They thrive on it so much they want the rest of the world to be just like them.

So Mr. Hasan Basar, be careful what you wish for because you may not like what you get. Remember, no country is perfect and they all have to find their own way.

You obviously spend a lot of time in the USA

What a bunch of half-truths.

Maybe you should stick to commenting on a country you've some experience in rather than only know via teevee.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I have called universities in America and researched universities in Thailand. Chula and Sasin are the only Thai recognized universities. If you are a Thai they will accept you in Masters programs for foreigners to America but for a foreigner returning to America with a Thai degree you will meet with many obstacles. You can always choose to go to Webster University in Bangkok.

Hi Bakeman, Maybe you didn't speak with the right person in America or maybe they just didn't know or understand your question.

One of my classmates from Payap University in Chiang Mai is studying now at Harvard University. Another of my classmates is studying at the London School of Economics.

I too was curious if my degree would be accepted in the USA and so I emailed admissions at Harvard, UCLA and even Cambridge in the UK a few years back. They all said if the university is accredited by the government office that regulates education in the country where the university is located, then they would accept the degree as meeting the basic educational requirements such as a bachelor's degree. They still have to pass all other admissions requirements such as an interview or writing an essay.

There are many universities in Thailand that are also approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for using their VA education benefits here. My bachelor's degree at Payap University was paid for by the VA as well as part of my masters degree.

Payap is also accredited by the U.S. Department of Education (US DOE) for being able to defer an existing school loan while you are a student at Payap. A foreign school participating in an US DOE program means either the student or the parent of that student can claim Payap on their US federal income taxes.

Webster University is as good as most schools in Thailand but their biggest benefit is that it is a branch of Webster University in the United States. When you graduate you will have a degree from the USA but the cost for that degree will be similar to what a degree cost in Thailand. You can also apply for FASFA if you're an American since they are part of Webster University in the USA. The tax rule applies here too.

Wilcopops, I highly doubt that my opinion or your rant on ThaiVisa will have any effect on the tiger conservation efforts in Thailand. Policy is made in Bangkok by Thai people who could give a rats ass what posters on ThaiVisa may think about the current policy. So if you really feel the need save the tiger, start in Bangkok and not ThaiVisa. ThaiVisa posters will just piss you off and aggravate your anger management issues as they do mine.

I like your information about having enough land for 2,000 tigers. I did not know that and think it would be a good idea. Although, I'm not convinced about parts of your second and third point. I really don't believe tigers have that much of an impact on the environment in Thailand other than being a threat to people. I think people, not tigers, have the biggest impact and the people's impact on the environment is why, I believe, if tigers were not in Thailand, nothing would change.

firstly Tiger conservation doesn't start in Bangkok - the conservation of wildlife is and international affair. You may also bw surprised to learn that Tigers are completely unaware of what country of governmental system they are in.

If you want to understand the impact tigers have on the environment then follow up my comment of trophic cascade, it will show you how it works; you arguing from a standpoint that has no basis in fact 9...and what made you think tigers lived in Africa?????)....... at present Thailand already has problems that arise from a lack of apex predators and if efforts succeed to increase the population to sustainable levels then even you I suspect would notice changes.

Your ideas on the interaction between people and tigers are naive to say the least -

as for being a threat to people - the only tigers that pose a significant threat to people are the ones in captivity.

My ideas on tigers are opinions. Tourist getting bitten by a tiger in captivity is an interesting story. It's in the same category as sky diving except the sky divers are better trained to risk their lives jumping from a plane than tourist taking photos with tigers. I really don't care about the tigers.

This is an example of the point I'm trying to make - or one of them at lest......your comparison with skydiving shows how little you are aware of the environmental problems both internationally and in Thailand - a skydiver has little to do with the environment...however the issue of zoos, wildlife in captivity and the way we accept practices that are detrimental to us and the planet ae raised by this incident. Questions about why we have these animals in captivity and whether or not its a good idea how how th general public are still largely unaware of the issues.

If you don't care about tigers why bother posting on something about which you neither know nor care about?

PS - for something to be an "opinion" it needs to be based on reasoned thought and evidence - I see little evidence of that in your comments.

Before I start, let me remind the readers that this is only my opinion and I have no scientific fact to back up anything in this post other than my experiences of being an MBA student at a Thai university.

I think where you study for an MBA depends on your abilities as a student more than the school you go to. However, some simple problems with the schools itself can make the school more of the issue than the student. Let me explain.

There are some incredibly smart students whose cognitive abilities can quickly grasp concepts and ideas they've never heard before. They can read through a chapter in a text book one time and fully understand what they've read. They are focused and have no problems with any assignments they are given by their professor. They think advanced calculus is easy. They perform exceptionally well on the GMAT. The burden of learning is more on the teacher than the student since the student is very academically talented. These students should be the ones studying in schools such as Harvard, Stanford or Wharton. Applications for these schools can be well over 20,000 per year.

Other types of students have respectable GMAT scores and their math skills are up to advanced algebra. They spend a lot of time reading the assigned text but grasping the meaning of the text is a bit of a struggle. They have no problems completing their assignments. They do have distractions in their lives but not enough to keep them from learning well. This group can study at Harvard, Stanford and Wharton and other top schools but it would be a lot of work for them. Other less challenging schools might allow them a classroom pace that would give them a better chance of understanding complicated graduate level business concepts.

The rest of us, including myself, can get an excellent MBA education at less demanding universities but the burden of learning is more on the student and not on the teacher. True, this group is harder to teach. Often in these classrooms you hear the instructor say, "it's not my responsibility to teach you math." Many in this group are math challenged (including myself). Concepts are not easy to grasp and YouTube and other online learning internet sites are frequented by the student in order to understand the material. Some of these students are not focused and often distracted by other issues in their life. Also, there is always someone in this group that should have went to Harvard and they usually expend no effort in the classroom but still are the best student(s). Maybe they don't have money for Harvard or maybe they are lazy but hopefully they will use their skills to help the others in the classroom.

There is a general idea or curriculum that is similar in all MBA programs in most university around the world. If you compare the curriculum of the MBA program at Payap University in Chiang Mai and the MBA program at Harvard University you would find a similar structure. Accounting classes, finance classes, economics classes and other elective business classes which you expect to find in an MBA program are there but usually the names of the courses are different. Often an academic writing project such as a thesis is also required. At Payap we often used Harvard case studies, American text books and often foreign instructors. Philip Kotler and Michael Parkins were the authors listed on the outside of some of my textbooks.

The main classroom differences between a high ranked university such as Harvard and Payap University is the pace or depth of the class and the talent that stands in front of the class to deliver the material. The less talented the teacher, the more the student has to work. The less talented the student, the harder the teacher has to work. Harvard has tons of money to hire the best talent in the world and they are very selective in who they accept as a student.

From my experience in an MBA program at Payap Univeristy, although expensive compared to other Thai schools, Payap pays comparatively low salaries to it's instructors and thus has the bare minimum amount of teachers required by law to keep the course open. In addition to a 5.5 IELTS or 550 TOEFL, the only requirement to study is to have a bachelor's degree in anything from an accredited university. Usually no one is turned away. At times, the instructor was not great quality. Payap outsources most of it's MBA classes to instructors from Bangkok who fly to Chiang Mai to teach on the weekend. This made office hours quite difficult to have and thus the quality of the course suffered as email often did not get answered in a reasonable amount of time. This also affects the number of elective classes a student can take. At Harvard, the student can take almost anything. At Payap, the entire class has to agree on what to take so Payap can outsource that class to a teacher from Bangkok. With that said, I think I got a good education from most of the classes at Payap but only because I worked hard for it.

The biggest drawback to Payap University's MBA program is teaching how to write an academic paper. This is their greatest weakness. Their research class was a bit weak based on talent in front of the class. It was another outsourced class taught by someone with no academic rank. There was no thesis format or written process given to the MBA students. They say it's being developed but I've been asking for a thesis format for two years now and still nothing. They have one in Thai but can't seem to afford to get that document translated into English. Payap gives the student someone else completed thesis and they're told me to write it similar to how that thesis is written. The lack of written instructions on the thesis writing process or their proposals and defenses is very frustrating. Students are told to just write and bring it to your adviser who will tell the student why it's not correct, how to fix it and to bring it back. I'm told this is normal for Thailand. I have no idea. However, it doesn't feel right.

All my classes are completed now and I only have to write my thesis. Although most of my classes were OK, based on the Payap's approach to writing a thesis, I would not recommend their MBA program to anyone. It's just that important. If I had to do it over again, I would not study in Payap's international MBA program knowing what I know now.

One of my classmates from Payap University in Chiang Mai is studying at Harvard University. Another us studying at the London School of Economics.

Wilcopops, I highly doubt that my opinion or your rant on ThaiVisa will have any effect on the tiger conservation efforts in Thailand. Policy is made in Bangkok by Thai people who could give a rats ass what posters on ThaiVisa may think about the current policy. So if you really feel the need save the tiger, start in Bangkok and not ThaiVisa. ThaiVisa posters will just piss you off and aggravate your anger management issues as they do mine.

I like your information about having enough land for 2,000 tigers. I did not know that and think it would be a good idea. Although, I'm not convinced about parts of your second and third point. I really don't believe tigers have that much of an impact on the environment in Thailand other than being a threat to people. I think people, not tigers, have the biggest impact and the people's impact on the environment is why, I believe, if tigers were not in Thailand, nothing would change.

firstly Tiger conservation doesn't start in Bangkok - the conservation of wildlife is and international affair. You may also bw surprised to learn that Tigers are completely unaware of what country of governmental system they are in.

If you want to understand the impact tigers have on the environment then follow up my comment of trophic cascade, it will show you how it works; you arguing from a standpoint that has no basis in fact 9...and what made you think tigers lived in Africa?????)....... at present Thailand already has problems that arise from a lack of apex predators and if efforts succeed to increase the population to sustainable levels then even you I suspect would notice changes.

Your ideas on the interaction between people and tigers are naive to say the least -

as for being a threat to people - the only tigers that pose a significant threat to people are the ones in captivity.

My ideas on tigers are opinions. Tourist getting bitten by a tiger in captivity is an interesting story. It's in the same category as sky diving except the sky divers are better trained to risk their lives jumping from a plane than tourist taking photos with tigers. I really don't care about the tigers.

Wilcopops, I highly doubt that my opinion or your rant on ThaiVisa will have any effect on the tiger conservation efforts in Thailand. Policy is made in Bangkok by Thai people who could give a rats ass what posters on ThaiVisa may think about the current policy. So if you really feel the need save the tiger, start in Bangkok and not ThaiVisa. ThaiVisa posters will just piss you off and aggravate your anger management issues as they do mine.

I like your information about having enough land for 2,000 tigers. I did not know that and think it would be a good idea. Although, I'm not convinced about parts of your second and third point. I really don't believe tigers have that much of an impact on the environment in Thailand other than being a threat to people. I think people, not tigers, have the biggest impact and the people's impact on the environment is why, I believe, if tigers were not in Thailand, nothing would change.

It is a bit sad for the tiger I think. People are everywhere and tigers can't be allowed to roam free. If they do, people will most likely end up as a food source for these large animals.

What is the solution? Do we have them stay on large tracks of land protected from interacting with people? Eventually, they will get out.....maybe. If they reproduce in significant numbers, then people might have to exterminate the potential threat.

Tigers are a victim of their own awesomeness. Maybe there is no room anymore for them on the planet. Maybe they should end up like the dinosaur. Can you imagine a T-Rex running around eating.....everything? Environmentalist hot on their trail screaming there are only 6 left and we need to save them!!!

Really? Is that true? Do we really miss the contribution of the T-Rex eating whatever they want? Would we equally miss the tiger in this part of the world? Other than for tourist, what benefit do they bring? They don't really have a dependable food source. At Tiger Kingdom they have a steady supply of chickens for the big game hunters. Not much of a challenge...not much of a life.

About the only thing you can do with an animal like this is to move them to some other part of the world where they can thrive. Thailand is not that place.

Damned hard nosed comments. Another critic without giving an acceptable/viable alternative?

The plight of the Tiger is not my job. I'm neither concerned nor care for the beast. Like the dinosaurs, their time in Thailand has come and gone. Send them to Africa, keep them as a tourist attraction or dispose of them. Either way, people should not complain when someone gets eaten from time to time.

It's only a matter of time before the same thing happens to the YouTube wonder boy that plays with lions.

If you are "neither concerned nor care for the beast", then why comment at all!

Did you say "keep them as a tourist attraction"? Is that not what Tiger Kingdom is?

My apoliges, I keep forgetting not everyone on ThaiVisa is a native English speaker and I should be more clear with how I state my ideas. Let me rephrase it.

There basically 3 things to do with Thailand's tigers. (1) Send them to Africa where they can roam in areas designed for animals like this. Thailand really doesn't have an area where large groups of tigers can roam freely like they do in Africa.(2) Keep them as a tourist attraction which seems to be what Thailand is choosing to do. (3) Kill all existing tigers in Thailand because Tigers and people don't mix well.

I hope that clears up any confusion about my opinion.

It is a bit sad for the tiger I think. People are everywhere and tigers can't be allowed to roam free. If they do, people will most likely end up as a food source for these large animals.

What is the solution? Do we have them stay on large tracks of land protected from interacting with people? Eventually, they will get out.....maybe. If they reproduce in significant numbers, then people might have to exterminate the potential threat.

Tigers are a victim of their own awesomeness. Maybe there is no room anymore for them on the planet. Maybe they should end up like the dinosaur. Can you imagine a T-Rex running around eating.....everything? Environmentalist hot on their trail screaming there are only 6 left and we need to save them!!!

Really? Is that true? Do we really miss the contribution of the T-Rex eating whatever they want? Would we equally miss the tiger in this part of the world? Other than for tourist, what benefit do they bring? They don't really have a dependable food source. At Tiger Kingdom they have a steady supply of chickens for the big game hunters. Not much of a challenge...not much of a life.

About the only thing you can do with an animal like this is to move them to some other part of the world where they can thrive. Thailand is not that place.

Damned hard nosed comments. Another critic without giving an acceptable/viable alternative?

It's only a matter of time before the same thing happens to the YouTube wonder boy that plays with lions.

What is the time frame for that 9 billion? Is that for one year, 10 years, 20 years etc? The amount of jobs created, 747,000, also seems a bit excessive. I would interested in reading their research.

It is a bit sad for the tiger I think. People are everywhere and tigers can't be allowed to roam free. If they do, people will most likely end up as a food source for these large animals.

What is the solution? Do we have them stay on large tracks of land protected from interacting with people? Eventually, they will get out.....maybe. If they reproduce in significant numbers, then people might have to exterminate the potential threat.

Tigers are a victim of their own awesomeness. Maybe there is no room anymore for them on the planet. Maybe they should end up like the dinosaur. Can you imagine a T-Rex running around eating.....everything? Environmentalist hot on their trail screaming there are only 6 left and we need to save them!!!

Really? Is that true? Do we really miss the contribution of the T-Rex eating whatever they want? Would we equally miss the tiger in this part of the world? Other than for tourist, what benefit do they bring? They don't really have a dependable food source. At Tiger Kingdom they have a steady supply of chickens for the big game hunters. Not much of a challenge...not much of a life.

About the only thing you can do with an animal like this is to move them to some other part of the world where they can thrive. Thailand is not that place.

Also, Please show me one person that actually came to Thailand to study.

99.9% would have used it only as a 2nd option to prolong their stay with no intention to study.

Sent from my LG-D858

In 2012, there were 16,000+ foreigners studying in international bachelor's, master's and PhD programs through out Thailand. Some, like me, were here prior to starting school. But like myself, they've completed the degree and moved on to other things. Having an education creates opportunities and options an uneducated person might not have. The cost to study in the west is incredibly high and Thailand offers an option that is affordable and, depending on the student, of decent quality.

More than 150,000 Thai students study along side these 16,000+ foreign students because it's cheaper than studying abroad and the foreigners in the classroom add to the diversity of the education for the Thai student. If the average international program cost 25,000 baht, then about 400 million baht in revenue is generated. Most international programs in Thailand are much more than 25,000 baht.

I can't speak for the Thai language schools because I don't know much about them.

Good thing for fast forward.

Common Sense