Bachelor's Degree graduates in Thailand face a bleak future for their careers

[trogers]

3x?!? That does not make sense. If anybody off the street can just take some classes and make 3x more everybody in Thailand would do it. The whole story is not being told. In my country, supposedly you get almost 2x more if you graduate college/university but that is totally not the whole story. You also need special connections to get those elite jobs and that figure includes all the ceos who get paid millions and millions. Now that every bum off the street is getting them, there is no way in hell the salaries are going to hold up. They are pumping millions of "business" degrees out each year. They are worth nothing.

Writing the new million copies paperback 'Financial Management for Beggars'?

[nzvic]

Stunned to read that my NZ uni is within top 40 and 30 for B.Arts and Social Sciences on a worldwide ranking! Geez it was going downhill after students trebled in the 1990s. A decade ago it ranked 50th in "The Times" UK rankings but is now hitting 160th overall. Gotta say for just 4.4 population, the eng/sci/bio faculties cime up with innovation...in fact a young engr friend's invention has a top US uni's medical people happy to trial his device.

I'm a great believer in education for its intrinsic worth, not just for making a living but for enrichment of one's life. However,

IMO, except for those with good intelligence and/or those prepared to put in the effort, it should be got at one's own expense. I paid a lot of tax for schooling idiots who won't ever get a job and will live parasitically either mostly or all their lives...I do not mean those disabled, sick or severely disadvantaged who deserve help. But people in their prime here, with degrees have often not worked for many years or not at all - ablebodied, from comfy homes with familial support. It is morally irresponsible.

Son went to same uni in its year of highest entry requirements for his business course, yet he found it was more competitive doing a further degree in BKK because he was against motivated students who worked harder than his well-ranked uni in NZ. He's never been unemployed in NZ or here, and gets approaches from many countries but being fluent in Thai he's keen to use that competitive advantage.

Edits as I'm going senile!

Edited September 26, 2014 by nzvic

[soundman]

Flames and replies removed.

Flaming other board members is not tolerated. Post in a civil manner please.

[thaibeachlovers]

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And, let's face it. Most Thai Bachelor degrees aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

lets face facts, most bachelors degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on from most universities in the world these days... alt=thumbsup.gif>

The problem is not that universities are worthless, but its that students go in with no idea about how to take advantage of what the universities offer. While some students are mentally mature enough to make a real decision about what they want to do, the majority are not. I went to a quality university in USA and there was almost no guidance to help you decide what you really wanted to do.

They just say try this class, try that class, and see if you like it. In reality those classes might teach you almost nothing about what you'll be doing when you finish.

What really needs to be done is to let students try working in their desired field for a little bit, and then have them pick the classes they want to take in order to get qualified for it. Instead it's: study 4 years to get qualified and then start working to see if you like it.

Check out Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It shows that when smart people find out exactly what they really want to do, and then devote themselves to it they do amazing things.

when smart people find out exactly what they really want to do, and then devote themselves to it they do amazing things.

Unfortunately, after a life with 3 different careers, I still don't know what I would have really liked to do. It's not always an easy choice, and none of us are psychic.

The only positive is that I didn't do my father's choice of banking, or have children, both choices I made in my teens. Other than that, I just went where life took me, and while not always great, it was an amazing ride while it lasted.

[DJVillain]

Thai degree is much better than Farang degree.

Farang don't study much in university, wear no uniform, no 8am oath and no discipline.

Thai students must study very hard, a lot of homework, a lot of test that needs memorizing long equations and do difficult mathematics with a calculator (calculator not allowed in exam hall to prevent cheating).

Farang student depend on calculator so much, they did not think know that pi = 22/7, or sin 30 = 0.5.

Don't know if joking or not...

Im laughing either way...

[laolover88]

Thai Secondary schools, like those in other countries, don't really aspire to teach anything. Students are required to be filled with enough 'knowledge' either through their own devices or at tutors to pass the exams. Schools exist to ensure that the students learn and to conform to the norms required to become proper Thai citizens. Thai Universities are an extension of this. The acquisition of a BA is then a filter through which government agencies and employers

can discriminate. In Thailand, to, there is age discrimination for employment. Mahidol and Chula serve the same function as Oxbridge and Ivy League Universities. They consolidate the elite as elite.If you don't go to school as a school lever you can just about scramble onto the acquisition of the letters through Ramkhamhaeng. The saving grace of theThai educational system is the vocational school, where students actually acquire a practical skills. In the US community colleges are overwhelmed with students who have had a disastrous experience of 'for profit' universities where they have learned nothing and acquired huge debts an are unemployable. The UK continues to despise vocational education. I don't know about FE in Oz: which leaves the German system.

[nzvic]

Lifelong education is really important IMO and I think doing most of a Buggar All (name for B.A. decades ago) gave me a foundation with theoretical frameworks to better understand what I read, observed, encountered etc.

Didn't go to uni until about 40 and what I did NOT see/observe/understand until then was due to my NOT having much knowledge from which to think/agree/disagree/extend on etc. despite being an avid reader.

ThaiBeachLovers (can't locate your post) don't worry!!! In my eighth decade I still dunno what I want to do, but I know my life has been enriched immeasurably through the continuing education I'm fortunate to enjoy: conferences/lectures from top 20 uni profs/Nobel laureates/seminal thinkers and writers etc. which long-literate industrialised countries have all for the taking.

I'd begun small startups(from 21 yrs replicating a biz model seen in London, not in NZ then) and my later education would have helped me to do it so much better but had to kinda "reinvent the wheel" making mistakes due to having no business degree.

FYI, MOOCs is a wondrous evolution...son is doing a few weeks online course in stats thro his former uni of 20 yrs ago, and loving it despite a very busy job with travel too...only 2-4 hrs p.w. commitment. He's learnt new stuff despite working with them. These global courses are free (I think). I'd mentioned Ivanka Trump (heiress/property developer) tried to do night classes most years despite being rich/busy job (e.g. in structural engineering so as to better understand the process).