Deadline: July 31, 2015
Location: Japan
Applications for Japanese Government Scholarships are available for international students to pursue undergraduate studies in Social Sciences and Humanities and Natural Sciences at Japanese universities. Scholarship awards will be tenable for five years from April 2016 to March 2021, including one-year preparatory education in the Japanese language and other subjects due to be provided upon arrival in Japan. For scholarship grantees majoring in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or a six-year course in pharmacy, the term of scholarship will be seven years until March 2023. The deadline of the application differs according to the country. Please contact with Japanese embassy or consulate general in your country.
Eligibility:
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is now accepting applications from overseas students for study in Japan. Their aim is to foster human resources who will become bridges of friendship between your country and Japan through study in Japan and who will contribute to the development of both countries and the wider world.
- Nationality: Applicants must have the nationality of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan. Applicants with no official nationality are also eligible to apply. An applicant who has Japanese nationality at the time of application is not eligible. However, persons with dual nationality who hold Japanese nationality and whose place of residence at the time of application is outside of Japan are eligible to apply as long as they choose the nationality of the foreign country and give up their Japanese nationality by the date of their arrival in Japan. Applicant screening will be conducted at the Japanese diplomatic mission in the country of applicant’s nationality.
- Age: Applicants generally must have been born between April 2, 1994 and April 1, 1999 to be eligible for Japanese Government Scholarships
- Academic Background: Applicants must either have completed 12 years of regular school education or have graduated from a school equivalent to an upper secondary school in Japan. (Applicants who will meet the above qualifications by March 2016 are eligible.) Applicants who satisfy the entrance requirements for a Japanese university are also eligible.
- Japanese Language: Applicants must be willing to learn Japanese. Applicants must be interested in Japan and be willing to deepen their understanding of Japan after arriving in Japan. In addition, in principle, applicants must be willing to carry out their academic studies in Japan in Japanese.
- Health: Applicants must be free from any mental or physical disabilities that would impede the pursuit of study at Japanese universities.
- Arrival in Japan: In principle, applicants must be able to arrive in Japan between the 1st and 7th of April 2016. If an applicant is to enroll in his/her university from the fall semester through direct placement, he or she must be able to leave for and arrive in Japan by the date specified by the accepting university.
- Visa Requirement: Applicants must acquire College Student (ryugaku) visas before entering Japan. They can then enter Japan with the College Student (ryugaku) residence status. Please also note that those who change their visa status to one other than College Student after arrival in Japan will lose their qualification to be Japanese Government Scholarship recipients from the date when their visa status changes.
- Others: After returning to the home country, former scholarship recipients shall cooperate with the conducting of post-return survey questionnaires, participate in events conducted by Japanese diplomatic missions in their country, and work to improve relations between the home country and Japan.
Scholarships Benefits:
- Allowance: 117,000 yen per month. (In case that the recipient research in a designated region, 2,000 or 3,000 yen per month will be added. The monetary amount each year may be subject to change due to budgetary reasons.) The scholarship is cancelled in principle if the recipient is absent from the university or preparatory Japanese-teaching institution for an extended period. The scholarship will be also cancelled in principle in the following situations. If the recipient has been receiving the scholarship despite his/her falling under any of the following situations, the recipient will be ordered to return the amount of scholarship that he/she received during the period wherein he/she was involved with any of the situations.
- Transportation to Japan: The recipient will be provided, according to his/her itinerary and route as designated by MEXT, with an economy-class airplane ticket from the international airport nearest to his/her home country residence to the New Tokyo International Airport or any other international airport that the appointed university usually uses. Expenses such as inland transportation from his/her home address to the international airport, airport tax, airport usage fees, special taxes on travel, or inland transportation within Japan will NOT be covered. (*The address in the country of the recipient’s nationality stated in the application form is in principle regarded as the recipient’s “home country residence.”)
- Transportation from Japan: In principle, the recipient who returns to his/her home country within the fixed period after the expiration of his/her scholarship will be provided, upon application, with an economy-class airplane ticket for travel from the New Tokyo International Airport or any other international airport that the appointed university usually uses to the international airport nearest to his/her home address.
Note 1: If a grantee returns home without the granting of an extension even though he/she may have applied for an extension of the scholarship period, he/she will not, in principle, be reimbursed for the travel expenses to return to the home country.
Note 2: Any aviation and accident insurance to and from Japan shall be paid for by the recipient. Note 3: If a grantee continues to stay in Japan after the scholarship period has ended, he/she will not be paid travel expenses to return to the home country for a temporary return.
Application Process:
Applicants must submit the following documents to the Japanese diplomatic missions by the required date. The submitted documents will not be returned.
- Application Form (a prescribed form)
- Placement Preference Form (prescribed form for applicants for direct placement only)
- Academic transcript for the past 3 years
- Graduation certificate of the last school attended (or certificate of expected graduation for an applicant due to graduate)
- Recommendation from the principal or the adviser of the last school attended
- Medical certificate (prescribed form)
- Certificate of enrollment (for an applicant currently enrolled in a university)
- Certificate of passage of university entrance qualification examination (if applicable)
Note 1: These documents must be written in Japanese or English, or translations in either of these languages should be attached.
Note 2: Photographs (4.5×3.5 cm, taken within the past six months, upper body, full-faced, uncapped. Write your name and nationality on the reverse and paste them onto the Application Form and Placement Preference Form) attached to the original application must be originals; copies are not acceptable. It is acceptable to paste the data of photo on each application form and print it. (To print your photos and paste it on the application form is not allowed.)
Note 3: The graduation certificate and the degree certificate obtained from the last university attended may be photocopies provided that the copies are attested by an authorized person of the university.
Note 4: An application will not be examined unless all the documents mentioned above are fully and correctly completed. For applicants with ? Certificate of passage of university entrance qualification examination, this document may be submitted in place of documents 3, 4 and 5.
Scholarship Open for International Students:
Students who have the nationality of a country which has diplomatic relations with the Japanese government;
- Asia-Pacific: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
- North America: Canada and United States of America.
- Latin America and the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentine, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Commonwealth of Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
- Europe: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Vatican.
- Middle East: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Palestinian Authority.
- Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabonese Republic, Gambia, Ghana, Republic of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe) can apply for this scholarship.
The deadline of the applications differs according to the country. Please contact with Japanese embassy or consulate general in your
country.
