Degree Programs Available To Foreigners In Or Outside Cm

[retiredat50]

My girl is currently studying for a degree in Computer Science. I'm considering making a move to Thailand and would like to know if anyone is aware of any degree programs available to foreigners at CM University or any other schools. Ideally a program that would allow her to continue her Comp. Sci. studies. I've checked out the web sites and didn't see anything suitable. Just posting here to find out if anyone is aware of any programs as it's easy to miss things.

Thanks

[PeaceBlondie]

Payap has programs - Computer Information Systems http://ic.payap.ac.th/undergraduate/cis/about.php

[retiredat50]

Thanks very much for the link. I checked out the web site and it certainly looks interesting. I will visit the school when I come to see CM in the next month. Anyone know about the reputation of the school?

Thanks,

[PeaceBlondie]

It's relatively new, pricey for Thais (private).

[cm das]

The reputation depends on the program. For music and law, Payap has a very solid reputation. In other areas, it's more seen as the school that rich Chiang Mai kids go to when they don't get accepted to Chiang Mai University. (btw, my wife is a Payap grad & she doesn't argue with this view, though her family is not rich) As for being relatively new, I think it was founded in the 60's - not so new for a Thai uni really.

[earlofwindermere]

In my search for MBA programs, I also discovered Ramkhamhaeng University. It's an open university based in Bangkok. According to my staff, it has a good reputation in the country.

They have a satellite branch in Chiang Mai and people can study for Bachelor or Master degrees on the weekends. They have education and business programs in English. You'll have to check to see about computer science. From the info I collected, the professors are often US or UK profs from other universities who are on sabbatical years.

[retiredat50]

In my search for MBA programs, I also discovered Ramkhamhaeng University. It's an open university based in Bangkok. According to my staff, it has a good reputation in the country.

They have a satellite branch in Chiang Mai and people can study for Bachelor or Master degrees on the weekends. They have education and business programs in English. You'll have to check to see about computer science. From the info I collected, the professors are often US or UK profs from other universities who are on sabbatical years.

Thanks for the link. I checked them out but unfortunately didn't see anything related to computer science. So far Payap looks like it has just what's needed so I'll check out the school when I next visit. If anyone has anything more good or bad to say about Payap then I'd like to hear from them either through the forum or PM.

Thanks

[BlackArtemis]

My wife had a horrible experience at Payap.

She studied her MA TEFL there and after completing the course work, she ran into trouble.

She was jerked around for about 2.5 years with an advisor who did nothing and constantly dropped the ball when it came to the thesis. She also lost the paperwork for a 300k Baht research grant. She was subsequently moved.

My wife took a year off and began working because she gave up on the school but then went back. She had a wonderful farang advisor and in a year she had a 100+ page thesis ready to defend. She couldn't defend it due to a miscarriage and then Payap said, Oh, you waited too long. No degree for you. Now being a private school they can actually state how long is too long, they can let someone study for 9 years and graduate (I know someone who did.)

Despite my wife's family working at this school, the president's wife talking to him about it she left with no degree and never looked back. The degree might be worth something over there, but here in the US when she was thinking about transferring credits, they basically shrug it off.

My wife also stated that girls who had graduated with honors from the BA program were some of the worst speakers in the class. I really wouldn't expect much value from that place, but as long as you don't plan to use the degree outside of Thailand, it should be fine.

I know others who had just as much trouble and I know some who went through without a hitch, this is my story. I know some people on here defend Payap up and down and claim I am just trolling. But ask around and you will here tons of mixed tales.

I say don't move back until she finishes, a degree from abroad is worth its weight in gold in Thailand.

[SM7WGP]

Excuse me that I ask, why would anyone take a masters in Thailand the Education levels is so low that its Not worth the paper its written on.

So for use outside Thailand its not worth anything.

[PeaceBlondie]

If BA's wife had actually gotten the MA-TESOL as a Thai teacher of English in Thailand, it would have been fine for a Thai in Thailand, teaching English. I worked with a Thai English teacher who earned her MA-TESOL at Payap; she did well.

[The_Doctor]

The quality of Payap's programs can vary from degree to degree, and of course there will be some who have had a disappointing experience. However, I think if you surveyed most graduates, you would find them proud of their degrees and very satisfied with their experiences. I am involved with the CIS program at Payap, so perhaps I am biased, but I would confidently say that we offer a high quality program taught by qualified instructors from throughout the world. The international programs are fairly new (around 6-7 years), and during that time they have been developed and improved. Unlike many 'international' programs in many Thai universities, Payap's programs are 'truly international' with all teaching through English medium.

A couple of posters have questioned the values of degrees from Thailand and this is a question which often arises. Quite often the value of a degree is in how it is marketed. Graduates of Payap's international programs have a lot more to their CVs than just a degree from a 2nd rate western university - such as language skills and diverse cultural experience. Payap degrees have been consistently recognised in the west.

Please feel very free to contact me for further information.

[scorecard]

Excuse me that I ask, why would anyone take a masters in Thailand the Education levels is so low that its Not worth the paper its written on.

So for use outside Thailand its not worth anything.

Your comment is not quite correct, but is the common percention of Thai universities.

Undergraduate students from a number of universities in Thailand are readily accepted into masters programs in many countries across the world.

Further, the university where I lecture has active exchange programs with many prestigious universities across the world including: Singapore, Australia, USA, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and more. And at both undergraduate and graduate levels. None of these universities would set up or continue such programs if there were not very convinced that the receiving university was of a high standard, by a number of indicators.

The class I taught last Sunday has 5 exchange students, all from Europe and they are very satisfied in all aspects of the time they are spening at my institution.

There are of course different types of universities including open universities and with the massive numbers of students they try to take care of the results of a large percentage of the students is predictable. But let me hasten to add that I'm not being critical of open universities, they give people with small income a chance to try to gain more knowledge, which is great.

I might add that I've had students who completed their undergraduate studies at Ramkamhaeng, then later were able to get support to do their masters at my university, which is in the list of so called prestigious Thai unis. A very large percentage of these students quickly came up to the overall same standards as the majority of the class. Some were stars.

Recently I've had three students return to my classes after a year of exchange at: one at NUS in Singapore, and from two prestigious US universities.

A number of Thai universities (including mine) participate several times every year in highly acclaimed annual competitions across all continents, by invitation only and often with as many as 20 schools participating. Several Thai unis have won a number of first and second places in these competitions.