Can a qualified lecturer find a job at this time in Thailand?

Rob21 · July 28, 2020

Hi There,

I am living in Thailand and I would like to establish my life in Thailand.

Please I would like to receive advise from the community if there is any possibility to find a teaching job preferably in University in Thailand during this time of COVID-19.

I have a PhD in Economics, Bachelor and Master degrees in Marketing and Business Communication. I hold more than 15 years of experience teaching Economics, Marketing as well as Econometrics for undergraduate and postgraduate students within Universities and Colleges (in Europe, UK and South-East Asia).

Kindly, any advise/tips?

Thanks indeed.

jackdd · July 28, 2020

Should be possible

Myran · July 28, 2020

Just reach out to the schools you're interested in. A friend of mine recently landed a new University job in Bangkok, just a couple of months back.

asiaexpat · July 28, 2020

There are many Universities offering international business courses. Decide where you want to live and visit the universities in that area.

doggie1955 · July 28, 2020

What area do you live in now? And were do you wish to teach? Do you speak Thai?

Edited July 28, 2020 by doggie1955

Rob21 · July 28, 2020

1 hour ago, doggie1955 said:

What area do you live in now? And were do you wish to teach? Do you speak Thai?

Thanks all for the comments.

I am living in Chiang Mai but willing to relocate in a different city. Unfortunately, I do not speak Thai.

Any websites available for teaching jobs in Thailand?

Peterw42 · July 28, 2020

10 minutes ago, Rob21 said:

Thanks all for the comments.

I am living in Chiang Mai but willing to relocate in a different city. Unfortunately, I do not speak Thai.

Any websites available for teaching jobs in Thailand?

https://www.ajarn.com

problemfarang · July 28, 2020

If you are ready to live a chip charlie but just enough for everything life, universities or vocational colleges are your best shot.

If you want to work at the bottom of all human beings.. normal government schools are for you as a english teacher.

A normal life... international schools are for you.

My suggestion would be universities. I know from my friends.

Rob21 · July 28, 2020

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

https://www.ajarn.com

Thanks.

18 minutes ago, problemfarang said:

If you are ready to live a chip charlie but just enough for everything life, universities or vocational colleges are your best shot.

If you want to work at the bottom of all human beings.. normal government schools are for you as a english teacher.

A normal life... international schools are for you.

My suggestion would be universities. I know from my friends.

Thanks for the suggestion. You right.

I have seen thousands of jobs for English teachers but I did not see any position or website for university jobs. Any idea where academic jobs are posted in Thailand?

In addition, do you know the salary range for Universities in Thailand? Thanks.

Edited July 28, 2020 by Rob21

ubonjoe · July 28, 2020

Moved to the Teaching in Thailand Forum for better input.

CrunchWrapSupreme · July 28, 2020

Register with Mahidol University's e-Recruitment. They are one of Thailand's top universities in Bangkok.

https://muhr.mahidol.ac.th/E-Recruitment/index_en.php

Upload all of your documents, degrees, references, and they'll send you multiple job postings a week. Don't use the "leave your resume" option, apply for each job directly as you get notifications. It won't be long before you get an interview, as I have.

Pros: Prestigious university. You'll be looked up to and respected, by students, colleagues, and the Thai people that you meet. You'll be doing "real" teaching befitting your qualifications, as opposed to most of the other teaching jobs you're likely to find in Thailand.

Cons: The salary is only about 42k. ???? This is at all Thai government universities. You could do much better monetarily, at secondary level private or international schools.

But if, you like real university level work, this is the way to go. I've heard the way other foreign teachers at Thai govt universities get by with the small salary, is that by saying they're a university lecturer lands them a lot of side gigs. Good luck.

Why Me · July 28, 2020

9 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

I've heard the way other foreign teachers at Thai govt universities get by with the small salary, is that by saying they're a university lecturer lands them a lot of side gigs.

True, though side gigs like consultancy are easier for Thais to come by.

9 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Pros: Prestigious university. You'll be looked up to and respected, by students, colleagues, and the Thai people that you meet.

Yes, a very nice perk indeed to proffer your card with a Chula or Thammasat or a Mahidol on it at any Thai business and transform magically from a dubious farang into an elite:-)

Edited July 28, 2020 by Why Me

Rob21 · July 28, 2020

52 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Cons: The salary is only about 42k. ???? This is at all Thai government universities. You could do much better monetarily, at secondary level private or international schools.

Thanks everybody for comments.

Yes you right in absolute terms, the salary could be higher at secondary level private or international schools but I think they have an office time schedule (6-8 hours a day for 5-6 days in a week). In Universities, it should be much different ????

1 hour ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

https://muhr.mahidol.ac.th/E-Recruitment/index_en.php

Thanks indeed for the link very helpful.

scorecard · July 28, 2020

14 hours ago, Rob21 said:

Thanks.

Thanks for the suggestion. You right.

I have seen thousands of jobs for English teachers but I did not see any position or website for university jobs. Any idea where academic jobs are posted in Thailand?

In addition, do you know the salary range for Universities in Thailand? Thanks.

"In addition, do you know the salary range for Universities in Thailand? Thanks."

Not quite that simple;

- Some foreign lecturers are paid by the course at an hourly rate but no retainer.

- A small number of foreign lecturers are lucky enough to get an annual contract, usually:

- A monthly salary (30,000Baht a month is the highest I'm aware of, also heard of 20,000Baht and 15,000Baht a month). Every uni is different.

- But for the monthly salary the lecturer must teach 2 courses (no extra payments) and must complete some other tasks. Some unis require the lecturer to be on campus a fixed number of hours in addition to class room time, some don't.

- Some unis will assign the contract holder to teach more courses at an hourly rate, on top of the fixed salary but no guarantees.

- Those on monthly salary usually very well qualified and experienced and have very good student surveys,

____________________

In general, most unis require that the lecturer holds at least one aligned masters degree.

Some require 2 masters degrees.

When I was lecturing at Chula and Thamassat both required that foreign lecturers (terms could be any of the points above) must have a Masters and a Ph.D. That's about 10 years ago, maybe it's changed. This requirement comes from the ed. ministry, mostly applies to unis under direct gov't control often meaning they receive large gov't funding. But other unis do work under different rules.

By Ed. ministry rules some unis are required to send originals (always returned) and copies of the prospective lecturers qualifications to the higher education office and they actively check they are authentic.

I'm aware of one guy who has many old qualifications gained in a European country before that country aligned itself to the typical, bachelor, masters, doctoral degree 'system'. The Ed ministry officials did some checking then said 'not accepted' because the documents don't mention (in English or in the EU language) bachelor, masters, doctoral and when they approached the unis in the EU country they wouldn't give a clear indication of alignment to bachelor, masters, doctoral. No further discussion.

I have heard of a few foreigners getting work (don't know the terms) in other uni streams. e.g. the Rajhabat system and some other which started as technical colleges but in later years have added a business faculty or similar. Also aware of 1 uni in Chiang Mai which for years employed several farang who had no qualifications at all, but that was stopped I guess 10 - 15 years ago.

And one 'Business School' near the Chiang Mai airport which was ordered closed a few years ago because they don't have and cannot get certification to operate a uni, and have no desire to upgrade their school, lecturers unqualified, awards issued to students are not recognized by anybody.

No courses taught in English, but they were advertising 'International English Program'. They continued to operate for several years after ordered to close, don't know the current situation.

I'm not aware of a website where uni jobs are posted.

Most uni's would be negative about 'walk-in' job seekers.

If you call the usual 'system' is that you will be transferred to the secretary of the Dean, the sec. will take your details (probably just wanting names of your degrees and any experience but in macro details only, and ask for your phone no. and your e.mail address and indicate he/she will pass your details to the dean.

Probably 90 - 95% of these calls there's no return call from the dean or anybody.

In some universities there's strong/very strong pressure from Thai lecturers who speak English, for the Thai professors to teach the English language courses. This often relates to hourly rates, meaning that if the Thai lecturer teaches in English they get a substantial 'bonus' in their earnings.

There's lots of configurations.

Edited July 29, 2020 by scorecard

bbabythai · July 29, 2020

If your willing to live the easy life in any of the cities in Issan you can easily find a job at a Thai government university. You will be teaching classes to majority of cute thai girls but the salary is 28,000 baht a month. You will get the social security health scheme at the local hospital.

It will not be very challenging but you will be teaching English mostly and maybe some computers. Maybe teach researching methods. All students are deemed to pass except if they cheated.

Hours at these jobs are flexi and you can go home after you finish you classes.

Other end of the scale is any of the top unis in Bangkok. Far more serious position and accountable for everything.

So you just have to make the decision if you want to work in a high class uni in Bangkok or low class position in the country.

Rob21 · July 29, 2020

Thanks scorecard and bbabythai for the very informative and detailed post.

Sadly, emerges that working in University here is not really alluring where you could have a better paid job in international schools than in universities.

This is quite surprising since few months back I was interviewed by several students from a University in Chiang Mai and I asked them about their tuition fees, I do not remember the specific number, but my first thought was: "Study is not cheap here, this should correlated to the salaries of lecturers". From what emerge is not the case.... lower salary meaning lower teaching quality though students pay much more.

Instead, are there International Universities/Colleges own/manage by foreign entities or cooperation between foreigners and Thais (e.g. joint programmes)?

For example in Vietnam and Cambodia, joint programmes are very popular and there are many established International universities such RMIT, American University among many others. Something like that here? I suppose these are meanly in Bangkok.

scorecard · July 29, 2020

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

"In addition, do you know the salary range for Universities in Thailand? Thanks."

Not quite that simple;

- Some foreign lecturers are paid by the course at an hourly rate but no retainer.

But no guaranteed minimum number of courses per month or semester and possibly no courses.

- A small number of foreign lecturers are lucky enough to get an annual contract, usually:

- A monthly salary (30,000Baht a month is the highest I'm aware of, also heard of 20,000Baht and 15,000Baht a month). Every uni is different.

- But for the monthly salary the lecturer must teach 2 courses (no extra payments) and must complete some other tasks. Some unis require the lecturer to be on campus a fixed number of hours in addition to class room time, some don't.

- Some unis will assign the contract holder to teach more courses at an hourly rate, on top of the fixed salary but no guarantees.

- Those on monthly salary usually very well qualified and experienced and have very good student surveys,

____________________

In general, most unis require that the lecturer holds at least one aligned masters degree.

Some require 2 masters degrees.

When I was lecturing at Chula and Thamassat both required that foreign lecturers (terms could be any of the points above) must have a Masters and a Ph.D. That's about 10 years ago, maybe it's changed. This requirement comes from the ed. ministry, mostly applies to unis under direct gov't control often meaning they receive large gov't funding. But other unis do work under different rules.

By Ed. ministry rules some unis are required to send originals (always returned) and copies of the prospective lecturers qualifications to the higher education office and they actively check they are authentic.

I'm aware of one guy who has many old qualifications gained in a European country before that country aligned itself to the typical, bachelor, masters, doctoral degree 'system'.  The Ed ministry officials did some checking then said 'not accepted' because the documents don't mention (in English or in the EU language) bachelor, masters, doctoral and when they approached the unis in the EU country they wouldn't give a clear indication of alignment to bachelor, masters, doctoral. No further discussion.

I have heard of a few foreigners getting work (don't know the terms) in other uni streams. e.g. the Rajhabat system and some other which started as technical colleges but in later years have added a business faculty or similar. Also aware of 1 uni in Chiang Mai which for years employed several farang who had no qualifications at all, but that was stopped I guess 10 - 15 years ago.

And one 'Business School' near the Chiang Mai airport which was ordered closed a few years ago because they don't have and cannot get certification to operate a uni, and have no desire to upgrade their school, lecturers unqualified, awards issued to students are not recognized by anybody.

No courses taught in English, but they were advertising 'International English Program'. They continued to operate for several years after ordered to close, don't know the current situation.

I'm not aware of a website where uni jobs are posted.

Most uni's would be negative about 'walk-in' job seekers.

If you call the usual 'system' is that you will be transferred to the secretary of the Dean, the sec. will take your details (probably just wanting names of your degrees and any experience but in macro details only, and ask for your phone no. and your e.mail address and indicate he/she will pass your details to the dean.

Probably 90 - 95% of these calls there's no return call from the dean or anybody.

In some universities there's strong/very strong pressure from Thai lecturers who speak English, for the Thai professors to teach the English language courses.  This often relates to hourly rates, meaning that if the Thai lecturer teaches in English they get a substantial 'bonus' in their earnings.

There's lots of configurations.

I added an extra line near the top of my original post in coloured italique font.

orchidlady · July 29, 2020

Webster University and Stamford both have small campuses in Bangkok and main campuses in Hua Hin. They are both American affiliates/branches.

AlfHuy · July 29, 2020

Having a masters and a Phd, who in his right mind would come to Thailand and lecture for around 30,000baht, that's 800Euros (you probably get this, being un-employed in Europe).

Pilotman · July 29, 2020

On 7/28/2020 at 3:34 PM, Peterw42 said:

https://www.ajarn.com

The OP is way over qualified to just be teaching English.

Rob21 · July 29, 2020

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

- Some foreign lecturers are paid by the course at an hourly rate but no retainer.

But no guaranteed minimum number of courses per month or semester and possibly no courses.

No commitment and likely the most important thing no work permit..

37 minutes ago, orchidlady said:

Webster University and Stamford both have small campuses in Bangkok and main campuses in Hua Hin. They are both American affiliates/branches.

Thanks indeed for the useful info.

8 minutes ago, AlfHuy said:

Having a masters and a Phd, who in his right mind would come to Thailand and lecture for around 30,000baht, that's 800Euros (you probably get this, being un-employed in Europe).

In the neighbouring countries, the salary is at least three or four times higher for the same position but locals and foreigners are treated differently in terms of remuneration.

The reason is I need an option to stay after September. So, I thought to get a work permit. Leaving Thailand at this time is just a big chaos and it will not go away soon. I entered with a visa on arrival, extended, and then amnesty. Less than 50 years old and no married with a Thai woman.

Any suggestion/option to prolong my stay after September? E.g. ED visa, work permit or what.. Thanks.

scorecard · July 29, 2020

4 hours ago, Rob21 said:

Thanks scorecard and bbabythai for the very informative and detailed post.

Sadly, emerges that working in University here is not really alluring where you could have a better paid job in international schools than in universities.

This is quite surprising since few months back I was interviewed by several students from a University in Chiang Mai and I asked them about their tuition fees, I do not remember the specific number, but my first thought was: "Study is not cheap here, this should correlated to the salaries of lecturers". From what emerge is not the case.... lower salary meaning lower teaching quality though students pay much more.

Instead, are there International Universities/Colleges own/manage by foreign entities or cooperation between foreigners and Thais (e.g. joint programmes)?

For example in Vietnam and Cambodia, joint programmes are very popular and there are many established International universities such RMIT, American University among many others. Something like that here? I suppose these are meanly in Bangkok.

Students pay big course fees but ed. outcomes not all that good. Have a good look around many Thai uni admin. departments, they are massively overstaffed and many staff are employed through nepotism. have no knowledge of advanced education approaches or ed. management/administration and not interested.

I have no experience re unis in Cambodia.

I have taught many courses in Vietnam in an Executive MBA program which is currently suspended because of Covid and re-oranization together with the offshore partner uni.

However, I'm aware that the Vietnam Ed. ministry takes a whole different approach compared to Thailand.

There's quite a few unis in Vietnam, some date back to strict communist doctrine, but many have updated themselves and some use Singapore unis as a rough role model (overall Vietnam sees Singapore as a model in many areas including in many levels of education.).

By deliberate policy a number of offshore unis operate (are allowed/encouraged to operate) stand alone and have large flexibility in many ways, from my understanding RMIT is an example.

Purpose? to challenge all VN unis to improve themselves towards global benchmarks. And I've heard comments from senior VN ed. ministerial seniors that it's working and comments that S'pre ed folks are impressed with the changes.

A bit off topic, I enjoyed lecturing the courses in the Exec. MBA program in VN, my class had a maximum of 24 students, the students were all Vietnamese, most around 30 but a few up to about 50 years old. Many were quite successful local business owners, a few senior bureaucrats, mostly attending because the UN and other development funding comes with strings attached re attending western style advanced education.

The students mostly speak perfect English, a few speak quite good English, they work well and respect each other in small teams, they have excellent attendance records, they contribute very well in class discussions, they are focused, polite and respectful but no hesitation to ask questions, they hand in good work and always on time.

ricklev · July 29, 2020

https://studyinthailand.org/study-abroad-thailand-university/university-college-thailand.html

Rob21 · July 30, 2020

15 hours ago, scorecard said:

Students pay big course fees but ed. outcomes not all that good. Have a good look around many Thai uni admin. departments, they are massively overstaffed and many staff are employed through nepotism. have no knowledge of advanced education approaches or ed. management/administration and not interested.

I have no experience re unis in Cambodia.

I have taught many courses in Vietnam in an Executive MBA program which is currently suspended because of Covid and re-oranization together with the offshore partner uni.

However, I'm aware that the Vietnam Ed. ministry takes a whole different approach compared to Thailand.

There's quite a few unis in Vietnam, some date back to strict communist doctrine, but many have updated themselves and some use Singapore unis as a rough role model (overall Vietnam sees Singapore as a model in many areas including in many levels of education.).

By deliberate policy a number of offshore unis operate (are allowed/encouraged to operate) stand alone and have large flexibility in many ways, from my understanding RMIT is an example.

Purpose? to challenge all VN unis to improve themselves towards global benchmarks. And I've heard comments from senior VN ed. ministerial seniors that it's working and comments that S'pre ed folks are impressed with the changes.

A bit off topic, I enjoyed lecturing the courses in the Exec. MBA program in VN, my class had a maximum of 24 students, the students were all Vietnamese, most around 30 but a few up to about 50 years old. Many were quite successful local business owners, a few senior bureaucrats, mostly attending because the UN and other development funding comes with strings attached re attending western style advanced education.

The students mostly speak perfect English, a few speak quite good English, they work well and respect each other in small teams, they have excellent attendance records, they contribute very well in class discussions, they are focused, polite and respectful but no hesitation to ask questions, they hand in good work and always on time.

Thanks for sharing your experience.. Underlying a good memory..

Rob21 · July 30, 2020

15 hours ago, ricklev said:

https://studyinthailand.org/study-abroad-thailand-university/university-college-thailand.html

Thanks for the useful link.

ricklev · July 30, 2020

6 minutes ago, Rob21 said:

Thanks for the useful link.

I could not quickly find it, but there is a list of every international program in Thailand available on some study abroad website. I would work that list hard with email and hard mail and phone calls. Mostly you will be ignored, but you will get a job eventually and maybe quickly.

Edited July 30, 2020 by ricklev

scorecard · July 30, 2020

38 minutes ago, Rob21 said:

Thanks for the useful link.

15 hours ago, ricklev said:

https://studyinthailand.org/study-abroad-thailand-university/university-college-thailand.html

Thanks for the useful link.

Sorry but that link is not up to date, there are a few more unis in Thailand which are not mentioned, and one institute which has no accreditation whatever, employs foreign 'lecturers' who are not qualified in any way e.g. foreigners who were perhaps basic shop assistants in their home countries but in this school they teach business management theory at what the school cleverly says is equivalent to an MBA and they pay them way less than even unqualified English language teachers in high schools or shop front English language schools, and gives 'graduates' documents/wards which have no validity whatever anywhere. I'm not going to mention the name.

But to be fair, 99% of the institutes mentioned are fully accredited/licensed and have good credibility and some do offer exchange programs, many of these are on-going documented partnerships with unis in Europe, Sth Korea, Vietnam and more.

I've taught many German, French, Spanish, Danish, Swedish and Sth. Korean and a few Singaporean students in BBA and many MBA exchange programs in Thai universities. All of these exchange students stand out for their desire to learn, their focus, contribution to class discussion, excellent assignments, excellent contributions to small teams case studies, advanced to very advanced English, good attendance, always polite and respectful, and strong desire to learn about another culture. These guys are a pleasure to teach and a bonus is that their attitudes, desires, behaviors, focus, discussion, quality assignment hand in etc., rubs off onto the Thai students, many quickly realize that what's happening in the class room is totally different to what they mostly experience in an all Thai classroom with a Thai professor and they like what they are seeing and to some extent they change.

Edited July 30, 2020 by scorecard

Allardice · July 30, 2020

Yes, it's definitely possible to find a university position.
I am in the exact same boat and that is my only interest teaching here.

However as you have noticed, although there are many school jobs listings there are pretty much no university listings on job boards.

The only way to get the ball rolling is to go on their websites and contact them directly through either (or both) the personnel page and the faculty page of the university you are interested in teaching at (contacting the Dean of the faculty directly if possible and email is provided).

You can find universities and their websites through google maps based on where you want to teach; you will have to use google translate to navigate their awful websites to find the relevant faculty and staff pages.

As others mentioned 'government' universities pay a measly 30k.

However certain private and 'international' universities can pay up to 60k for those with a masters, so it's worth checking those ones out since you're qualified.

Good luck.

And you can PM me your email if you need some initial contacts which I have gathered on my own search.

ricklev · July 30, 2020

4 minutes ago, Allardice said:

Yes, it's definitely possible to find a university position.
I am in the exact same boat and that is my only interest teaching here.

However as you have noticed, although there are many school jobs listings there are pretty much no university listings on job boards.

The only way to get the ball rolling is to go on their websites and contact them directly through either (or both) the personnel page and the faculty page of the university you are interested in teaching at (contacting the Dean of the faculty directly if possible and email is provided).

You can find universities and their websites through google maps based on where you want to teach; you will have to use google translate to navigate their awful websites to find the relevant faculty and staff pages.

As others mentioned 'government' universities pay a measly 30k.

However certain private and 'international' universities can pay up to 60k for those with a masters, so it's worth checking those ones out since you're qualified.

Good luck.

And you can PM me your email if you need some initial contacts which I have gathered on my own search.

Yes, the key is that you want to be contacting the head of a particular specific program, for example the head of the BBA international program within the faculty of commerce and accountancy at a university. So you get their particular email address from the faculty and you send them hard mail directly and you call and ask for them specifically. All done with persistance and extraordinary politeness of course.

My experience is that even if the salary is $35,000 per month for example at any major university it's easy to at least double that with extra courses and that gets easier the longer you're there

Edited July 30, 2020 by ricklev

DavisH · July 30, 2020

On 7/28/2020 at 6:20 PM, Rob21 said:

Thanks everybody for comments.

Yes you right in absolute terms, the salary could be higher at secondary level private or international schools but I think they have an office time schedule (6-8 hours a day for 5-6 days in a week). In Universities, it should be much different ????

Thanks indeed for the link very helpful.

You may find you need to be at the university each day - and get the normal 2 weeks holiday per year plus public holidays. So it's not that great, I think. That was the situation as explained to me at Mahidol university many years ago when I had an interview there. I ended up staying at my current position. That paerticual job had very low teaching hours though, and there were lots of oppostunity to pick up other hours in other faculties. Perhaps private universities have different holidays and conditions.

I think thr way to go to to go to each university website and see what is availably in their intenational programs. Try ABAC, for example : https://msme.au.edu/