Ruth T. McVey received her PhD in 1961 from Cornell University in the Government Department and Southeast Asia Program. Her dissertation was entitled 'The Comintern and the Rise of Indonesian Communism.' In 1954, she received her MA at Harvard University, in the Soviet Area Program. From 1976 to 1984, she was a reader in Politics with reference to Southeast Asia at the University of London, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Southeast Asian government and politics, and a postgraduate seminar on political ideology. Teaching and tutoring in various general undergraduate politics subjects, especially comparative politics. Supervision of research students in Southeast Asian Politics and Southeast Asian History. From 1969 to 1976, she was a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1969-1976.