Job Discussion Forums

[Ludvig Von Mises]

Hi,

My apologies for repeating this question on another page, (very sorry if you have seen or read it elsewhere).
I am interested in starting a distance MA TESOL program with the University of Nottingham with the goal of gaining employment in the Gulf Region of the Middle East. Heard about employers in Saudi not accepting distance degrees. The Nottingham transcript and certificate do not indicate the mode of delivery, and the program has the same standing and rigor of the on-campus program.
I chose to ask this on the Saudi page because it seems they are the most strict about these things. Does anyone have any experience or advice to share? Honestly, I am burning out in my current employment and getting out of here is the reason for my study idea. Would be willing to follow it up with a DELTA and heading straight to the Gulf.

Any ideas or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Jonathan

[Muhammed Abbas Khan]

Dear Ludvig,

In order to avoid any future complications with employers it is probably better to avoid doing a distance or online program. Anyway, I don't know where you are based at the moment and which month(s) you have as part of your paid holiday BUT you could try looking at the University of Exeter's part-time MEd Tesol Intensive Summer Programme' It runs in July of every year and takes three years.

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/degrees/education/tesolsummer/

[Ludvig Von Mises]

Thanks for your suggestion.
I guess I either take a chance and do it distance or throw in the towel and forget about it. My school has classes scheduled in July and August (shockingly busy period) and it would not be possible to get time off to do an on-campus degree.
Might take a shot in the dark and do it. I am in no real position to judge, but it does seem stupid that empoyers would discriminate against distance degrees from a large UK university like Nottingham, Birmingham, Leicester, etc. The distance study is likely more challenging than the on-campus equivalent, (for those rich and lucky enough to be able to fund a full-time study).
I will have a closer look at the the other postings, look at the program content again, and think about it.

Thank you.

[Richard62]

There are two parties involved in this situation.

1-) Your employer
2-) Saudi Arabian Embassy

As regards your employer, if your CV / resume states that you have worked in country X while doing your MA in country Y, it will be obvious that your degree is an online / distance / blended one. Most employers will not recognize it. So you have two possibilities. 1-) You can do an online degree from a university physically located in the same country as your workplace; 2-) Remove one year from your job experience section in your CV / resume. Employers will assume that you were doing your full-time MA in that time period.

As regards the Saudi Arabian Embassy, you will see that each embassy has different rules when you want to get your diploma attested. Your employer will ask you to get your diploma legalized. Because Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, a stamp from the Public Notary and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not enough to show that your diploma is genuine. You also need to get it stamped by the Saudi Arabian Embassy. In countries like the UK and US, there is a separate entity called Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission. When you want the Saudi Embassy to stamp your diploma, the embassy asks you to take it to the Saudi Cultural Mission first. The Saudi Cultural Mission contacts the university and verifies that you actually did your course there. If they realize that your diploma was gained online, they would not stamp it, and the Saudi Embassy would refuse to stamp it without the stamp of the Saudi Cultural Mission. But in Europe only the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Austria and France have a Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission. The other countries have Saudi Embassies / Consulates, but no Cultural Mission. The procedure for an attestation request changes from country to country. In countries where the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission does not exist, it will be a lot easier for you to get your online degree attested.

[abayababy]

If you are in the US, you get your degree verified through a service called degree verify. It cost $11. If it is an accredited university you get a document that you print out. You send that to the SACM along with a sealed copy of your transcript and a sealed letter from the registrar stating that you attended school there. If it is a brick and mortar school neither will mention online or distance. Done. It is unlikely that the SACM will contact the school. It is also unlikely that the university that employs you will look so closely at your CV that they will notice a conflict between employment and school attendance. This may not be the case for private unis in KSA, but more than likely for the big government ones who employ hundreds of teachers.

[Ludvig Von Mises]

Thank you for your feedback. It seems Saudi is the strictest about distance education. Does anyone have any information or experience regarding other countries in the Gulf Region? Is it a similar story? I wonder if this is such an issue in Europe and Asia, and if not, whether the M.E. will catch up?
I had a friend with a CELTA, and perhaps a BA, (or some other post-secondary qualification) who was able to teach for a month in Dubai. This was recently, and it was interesting to me as he seemed a little underqualified for the region.
I wonder if after the distance MA TESOL I could strengthen myself by taking a DELTA to use there are issues with the Nottingham U degree.

[abayababy]

The SACM and Saudi Embassy do not require you to provide a CV in order to get your visa. Once you get to Saudi, you have to present your original diplomas and certificates to someone in human resources. Once again, I believe it is unlikely they will cross-reference your degree with your CV just to determine if your degree might have been acquired via distance learning. I doubt they even think about it. Just my opinion and limited experience speaking.

[nomad soul]

[nomad soul]

Duplicate post deleted.

[Ludvig Von Mises]

Yup, I heard you three distinct times, actually.
Where is the general Middle East Forum? I checked and there is only country specific pages. Will look again.

[scot47]

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewforum.php?f=34&sid=8e3d808d8dfe6d0d29796a25f8996947

[Ludvig Von Mises]

Scot47. Thanks, you rule!

[veiledsentiments]

I posted this on 3/10 in response to one of your many queries:

VS

[Ludvig Von Mises]

Thank you. This makes sense as an MA TESOL is not a license to teach K-12.
Alrighty then, I will make sure the course content is interesting, and, if so, go for the Nottingham program while working in Japan. Will see where it leads afterwards.
Thanks again!

[al-Californian]