PHD Benefit

[teacherclaire]

On 11/1/2020 at 5:24 PM, DrMJA said:

The bottom line is a PhD in Thailand at a government university will only pay you between 35,000 - 45,000K base salary a month.

Private educational facilities a bit more. Both will require you to have proven publications outside of your dissertation publications and then continue to KEEP on publishing while working with a full teaching load.

In addition, the Thai's you are working with will want a free ride on your future publications, while adding minimal contributions, and with what they do add .... it will need to be edited from "TINGLISH".

IF you teach at the masters level you can earn a little more money.

 

Keep it simple, get your masters, and learn to read and write Thai, for yourself and your Thai wife.

 

In the future, if you decide to stay in Thailand and never leave, then do your PhD in country, it carries weight with the Thais that you did it in their system, then rise through the ranks at your preferred university of choice.. 

Best of luck and wisdom in your choices!

BTW: I am writing as one who asked the same question many years ago!

 

 An unbelievable good post! Thank you very much. 

[simon43]

I should comment that prior to teaching online, I taught Science and English subjects for a comparable salary at a private school in Myanmar.  I only left that enjoyable job because I wanted to try my hand at teaching online, and the internet service in Myanmar was too unreliable to support online teaching ????  I've only briefly taught in Thailand many years ago, and I certainly would not want to repeat that experience ....

[Maha Sarakham]

3 hours ago, simon43 said:

I've only briefly taught in Thailand many years ago, and I certainly would not want to repeat that experience ....

Oh come now, the little ones didn't warm your heart with joy?  ????

[Maha Sarakham]

Thank you for the learning opportunity!  Continuous improvement!

[Scott]

A post critical of grammar has been removed.   I don't recall anyone asking for grammar advice.  

 

[simon43]

15 hours ago, Maha Sarakham said:

Oh come now, the little ones didn't warm your heart with joy?  ????

I'm very happy teaching the little ones (that's what I did in Myanmar and now online).

 

No, it was the adults (bosses) that p*ssed me off......  I tend to have a low patience level with idiots ????

[DavisH]

On 11/6/2020 at 9:09 AM, Maha Sarakham said:

Thanks for the comments everyone.  Have plans to finish the MA in Edu and start getting some teaching experience in the US prior to relocating.  Question is now what subject will be most in demand going forward.

Make sure you get your teaching certification in the US. Work a couple of years there first. Teach the subjects you will most enjoy yourself. Of course, ESL english is the most common teachign subject, but as you would be a qualified teacher, you can teach other content areas, such as mathematics and science in international schools. They generally have the greatest demand. I'm a maths teacher. I also have a PhD in science, but never bothered trying to get work in a university as the salaries are generally too low. Actually I did have an interview at AIT many years ago for 100K a month, but did not get it. The best international schools pay more than that but demand is very high and thuse they attract very experienced teachers. Hence, you need home country experience. 

[Maha Sarakham]

7 minutes ago, DavisH said:

Make sure you get your teaching certification in the US. Work a couple of years there first. Teach the subjects you will most enjoy yourself. Of course, ESL english is the most common teachign subject, but as you would be a qualified teacher, you can teach other content areas, such as mathematics and science in international schools. They generally have the greatest demand. I'm a maths teacher. I also have a PhD in science, but never bothered trying to get work in a university as the salaries are generally too low. Actually I did have an interview at AIT many years ago for 100K a month, but did not get it. The best international schools pay more than that but demand is very high and thuse they attract very experienced teachers. Hence, you need home country experience. 

 

Excellent information, cheers!  Thank you for sharing your experiences everyone!

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 11/6/2020 at 7:23 PM, Maha Sarakham said:

Did you feel in order to work your way up the ladder (close to 100k) it was absolutely mandatory to be in Bangkok?

I’m just under 70k. It’s really not enough, on the outskirts of BKK. Inside of BKK, no way. I’m lucky to have some small passive income from the US, currently impacted by Covid, and occasionally have to bust out the Visa. Like the old commercials go, “It’s everywhere I want to be”.

 

If you could make do with the general 35k govt school work, it’d have to be out in the provinces, where your rent and other expenses would be much cheaper, as I did before.

 

The wife and I like to eat out, go to pubs, night markets. A big part of this adventure in a foreign country is actually being able to enjoy it. It boggles the mind how the Filipinos can do it on 25k, sending most of it home, and spending their weekends in shoebox apartments watching Netflix.

 

Having a wife also means supporting her and her family. She helps how she can with her work, but it’s quite minuscule in comparison. No, I’m not buying them pickups and motorbikes like some guys on here. Just occasional trips to Big C, electric bills, and fixing stuff around their house.

 

Thus, in my remaining years here I’ll try getting to 100k, then it’s back to uni back home, and bringing her where she could make nearly twice as much in an hour than a day here.

[Neeranam]

I would say don't do it. Thailand has a strict hierarchical social system, especially in universities. I have seen a few PhD's refused jobs as they would have had a higher status than the boss.