Does teaching at a Thai university offer you a chance to move into university employment elsewhere?

[Cr01wner]

Already have a PhD. Just wondering how lecturing at a Thai uni looks to employers in the West. Is this a good thing for your CV?

[stubuzz]

Depends on the uni you teach in.

[SheungWan]

Depends on the uni you teach in.

Disagree. There is a job to be done by qualified individuals at all levels of the university food chain. The issue for a PhD graduate research active is whether the university offering employment has staff who are research active and supports them. The litmus test is if the library subscribes to online access to international journals/research papers and offers staff/students membership access. If the answer is yes then even if confined to teaching English the continuance of a research active presence and presentation of papers etc will be a bonus for securing further employment back home. Always good to be able to demonstrate continuous employment.

[Rhys]

There is research and then there is Thai research...

[SheungWan]

There is research and then there is Thai research...

A university lecturer's research is not bound by either the institution or the country they are working in. If one's research is in English then the key question is access to research materials. At the higher end of the food chain, universities may set up research teams and focus their attentions, but elsewhere it can be individual and isolated at the place of work, in which case if one is research active and wants to attend conferences in one's subject area the question to a hiring uni in Thailand might be whether time off, even unpaid, is allowed. However it should be pointed out that one does not 'teach' at a university. Teaching is for schools. A university lecturer lectures. The exception probably is the English teacher employed by a university (not to be confused with employment in a linguistics department).

[Stradavarius37]

Have has several lecturers work at Mahidol who have moved to universities in the US with ease.

[SheungWan]

Have has several lecturers work at Mahidol who have moved to universities in the US with ease.

Having a full-time lecturer's job at a Thai university will do no harm for one's CV when applying for university jobs in the West. However, one needs to be quite hard-nosed as to what level the course material is being delivered. Sometimes although an institution is offering a degree the actual quality and level of the course can be distinctly sub-degree standard. Thai universities may be susceptible to low-quality work given the reputation for poor quality control and assessment procedures. That is why a staff member's independent research comes in useful as a counterweight. What an interview panel want to know is how the candidate managed their situation. Never underestimate the value of that first job. It can get your foot under the door later on when you are ready.