Grad Schools in Thailand

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Grad Schools in Thailand

by Scott Hipsher

Do you ever dream about doing something completely different in an exotic location but your practical side prevents you from taking the plunge? Would you be interested in advancing your career while enjoying a completely different culture even if your bank account isn’t exactly bulging? Have you every thought about psursuing an advanced degree in a foreign country? If this sounds like something you might be interested in, then please check out the previous article “Back to School in Bangkok."

(see bottom for additional resources)

Since writing that piece I have received numerous responses asking questions and wanting further information on the idea. If you have e-mailed and didn’t receive a reply, please accept my apologies.

Since many people have asked similar questions and it has become very time consuming to answer each person individually, I will try to answer the most common questions here.

How much does it cost to live in Bangkok and what types of employment are available? The most common occupation for native English speakers is teaching. Joel Barnard does a far better job of answering this question than I could ever do in his article, “An Introduction to Living and Teaching in Bangkok." It is really a very well written article that would be a useful guide for anyone interested in moving to Thailand for any reason. As far as other types of jobs, it is possible to land a job in your field of expertise, but very difficult to do from a distance. Unless one is beingsent here by the company or organization the individual is already working for, the chance of the average person living thousands of miles away landing a high-paying job in Bangkok before moving to Thailand is very slim. Many people move here, start out teaching English while looking for something else.

The average age of a full-time MBA grad student in Europe and the USA is about 25. What is it in Thailand?

While it is not very common to see undergraduate students many years removed from high school, there are a number of “older” students in their late 30s (like me) in the graduate schools. This is especially true in the evening programs where almost all of the students hold full-time jobs. Unless you truly are getting up in years, you won’t feel ancient, and what is wrong with being around a lot of younger people anyway?

Students at my Business School are predominantly Thai. Is it easy to become close to the Thais, or do the international students tend to stick together? The other international students in Bangkok University’s MBA program come from Vietnam, China, Japan, India, and Equatorial Guinea, so we really don’t have any more in common with each other than we do with the Thai students. Maybe there are a few more “farang” students at the other universities, but I doubt you will find any university with a large number of American, Australian or European Students.

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For the most part, the Thais are very friendly and inclusive and unless an individual has a phobia about being the only white or black face in a room there shouldn’t be any problems. Neither myself, a Caucasian, nor the other non-Asian in my class, an African Gentleman, have ever been made to feel like we didn’t belong. Naturally, unless you speak fluent Thai, you will be left out of some conversations and activities at the university. To say a non-Asian student is treated exactly like everyone else may be overstating the case a little, but unless you are extremely sensitive you shouldn’t worry about being accepted by the other students. I know I’m repeating the stereotype by saying the Thais are friendly, but it is true.

Can a degree from an Asian business school increase your value on the labor market outside of Asia (Europe or the USA)? If any Human Resources professionals are reading this I would love to hear their thoughts on this. My gut reaction would have to be probably not.

Experts claim that you will be lucky if your resume or CV gets more than a minute of the hiring manager’s time.

A hiring manager in the USA knows how to classify an MBA from an elite school, a top public school, a lesser known regional university, or even a diploma mill, but what would a hiring manager think when he or she came across a resume with an MBA from Chulalongkorn University on it?

My guess is the manager would have no idea of its worth and ignore the resume and unless there were only a few candidates wouldn’t spend the time to find out that most of the professors at Chulalongkorn’s Sasin Business School come from Wharton and Kellogg, two of the finest B-schools in the USA.

Others claim that the only real value you get from an MBA is the contacts you make. I doubt an individual would meet anyone in a school in Bangkok that would be of much help in advancing one’s career in Walla Walla, Washington or Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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What graduate degree do univerities in Thailand offer?

The following is a partial list of schools and programs in Thailand. I have restricted the list to graduate level programs taught in English.

Many of the same universities also offer undergraduate programs in English, and obviously if you want and are able to study in Thai there are far more choices. While I have attempted to provide accurate information, individuals should check out for themselves the programs that are of interest to them in order to get the best information.

Assumption University (ABAC)
Assumption is a very respected local university that offers both day and evening/weekend programs. ABAC has Doctoral Programs in Philosophy as well as Computer Science. It also has Graduate Schools of Business, Computer Information Systems, Arts, Tourism Management, Science and Technology, Engineering and Education that offer a variety of different Master Degrees. ABAC is one of the more internally recognized schools in Thailand.

Bangkok University
BU has both an MBA and Masters of Communication Arts evening program. BU also has a Doctoral Program in Business Administration in partnership with the University of Nebraska and a Doctoral Program in Communications in partnership with Ohio University. Both programs require two years of study in Bangkok with one year in the USA. The programs and workloads (Master Degrees) are geared towards working adults. Currently they are charging 3000 Baht a semester hour plus additional fees in the MBA and MACA programs. So 48 semester hours would cost 144,000 Baht with around another 60-80,000 Baht in fees and books. You would pay roughly US $5,000 at current exchange rates for your degree. BU is a respected private university, which employs many foreign professors as well as many part-time instructors from other universities. It’s a nice place.

Chiang Mai University
If you would prefer to live outside of Bangkok, Chiang Mai University offers a few programs in English. CMU has issues Doctoral Degrees in Nursing, Geology, Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science as well as Master Degrees in Health Science, Agricultural Systems, Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development. CMU would appear to be a good choice if you would be interested in a career with an NGO.

Chulalongkorn University
Chula is one of the two most respected universities in Thailand, and has a number of degree programs including: PhD in Economics, Master Degrees in Health Economics, Environmental and Natural Resources Economics, Business and Managerial Economics, International Economics and Finance, Petroleum Engineering, Engineering Management, Manufacturing Systems Engineering, and European Studies. The University also offers a number of “certificate” programs including an Intensive Language program for people who would like to learn to speak, read and write Thai at a fairly high level. Chula has two programs that may be of special interest to foreigners. The first is its MA program in Thai Studies. It is taught in English and addresses many aspects of life in Thailand. This sounds like a very interesting program but I’m not so sure how marketable this degree would be outside of Asian Studies Academia. The other program is the MBA program at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration. This program is a partnership between Chulalongkorn, Wharton Business School, and Kellogg Business School. In this program you would basically be getting the same professors and education as you would at one of the elite universities in the USA at a small fraction of the cost. The university estimates that tuition and fees would total 366,000 Baht for the entire program (That might pay for half a semester at Wharton or Kellogg). This program is really for full-time students with classes taking place during the day and a heavier workload than at most other universities.

Kasetsart University
Another respected university in Bangkok, KU offers 3-year PhD’s in Tropical Agriculture (221,000B), Forestry (221,000B) and Biotechnology (231,000B). KU has 2-year Master Degree programs in Aquaculture (162,000B), Agricultural Economics (170,000B), Civil Engineering (255,000B), Tropical Agriculture (157,000B), Forestry (170,000B), Biotechnology (166,000B), MBA (670,000B), Development Communications (219,000B) and Industrial Engineering (506,300B).

Thammasat University
The other of the two most prestigious universities in Thailand has Doctoral Programs in Economics Marketing, Business Administration and Engineering/Technology. Thammasat has Master Degree programs in Civil Engineering, Economics, and Engineering/Technology. Thammasat has different prices for foreign students than those for Thais.

National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)
NIDA has an international MBA program that costs less than 500,000 Baht, They have some other programs but I’m not sure which ones are in English and which ones are taught in Thai.

There may be other programs out there that I don’t know about, if you are truly interested spend a little time surfing the net and see what you can find. If you want to know specifics about how to apply and such, please check with the university that you want to attend. However if you have questions about “what’s it like going to school in Bangkok” feel free to drop me a line or two at scotta@loxinfo.co.th

Article Shelf:

Back to School in Bangkok by Scott Hipsher - Click Here -

An Introduction to Living and Teaching in Bangkok by Joel Barnard - Click Here -

Thailand Universities:

Assumption University

Bangkok University

Chiang Mai University

Chulalongkorn University

Thammasat University

National Institute of Development Administration

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