Job Discussion Forums

alellis · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 28

Are there any TESL/ESL Masters programs in Mexico? (other than Mexico City--more like Monterrey or Veracruz) thanks!

MELEE · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:28 pm Post subject:

The Universidad de las Americas (UDLA) Cholula campus has one, but you'd probably be better off doing a distance one while in Mexico, rather than getting a Mexican degree.

girlcabbie · Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 25

University of Birmingham has a distance ed Masters in TEFL and Applied Linguistics.

readytotravel · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 77

I'm starting a MS Education with a concentration in TESOL program with Shenandoah University in January. www.su.edu

raulyn · Joined: 09 Nov 2007 Posts: 64 Location: D.F.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Mexican degrees aren't thought of very highly in the US, Canada, or the UK I'm afraid.

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

alellis · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 28

If that were true, then why do so many foreigners study medicine at the University of Guadalajara? I have had doctors in the NICE part of town where I live who are Americans and got their medical degrees in Guadalajara.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Perhaps medicine or UAG is the exception. I've had Mexicans report that their degrees were not considered valid in both the US and Canada, including one friend with a PhD in economics, trying to secure work in Montreal. In that case, they told her that because Mexico is known for corruption, they couldn't possibly verify her degrees. She took that to mean they thought the degrees could have easily been falsified or simply bought.

notamiss · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject:

My better half sends his students to graduate studies in Europe and North America, and they don't have any trouble getting respected and accepted. (These are Math students from the UNAM.)

The respect commanded by a Mexican degree probably varies a lot by subject area and university.

alellis · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 28

yeah, the USA actually has a list of Mexican medical schools that it considers valid.

MO39 · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:00 pm Post subject:

Come to think of it, in the late 1970s I taught English at the Colegio de Postgraduados, a graduate agronomy university near Texcoco. Quite a few of those earning Master's degrees then went on to get Ph.Ds at well-known schools in the US, England and Spain and had no trouble having their Mexican degrees accepted as completely above board by the universities who accepted them!

MELEE · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject:

two points to ponder

---Why are all these people going abroad for their MAs and PhDs if foriegn degrees are not thought of as "better" some how?

---The OP was talking about an MA in TESL or related, it shouldn't be surprising that an English speaking country would be the desireable place to have that from, if for no other reason than the perception that the faculty would be native speakers. Of course I know this may not be true, but when you are applying for a job, what is and is not true is not always the most important.

I also know a lot of foriegners study at UNAM, but the majority that I've met (studying Math with my husband) are from other Latin American countries.

MO39 · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:

notamiss · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:13 pm Post subject: