MEXT Research Scholarship

Scholarship Grant:

Research Scholarship

Scholarship Sponsor:

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan

Fields of Study

Fields of study must be subjects which applicants will be able to study and research at Japanese universities. Students who major in medicine, dentistry or welfare science will not be allowed to engage in clinical training such as medical care and operative surgery until he/she obtains a permit from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare under applicable Japanese laws. Majors in traditional entertainment such as Kabuki and classical Japanese dances, or in subjects that seek practical training in specific technologies or techniques at factories or companies are excluded.

Qualifications:

• Applicant must have the nationality of a country which has diplomatic relations with the Japanese government. This applies at such times to stateless persons, too. Applicant who has Japanese nationality at the time of application will not be eligible.
• Applicant must meet the age requirement. (Please contact JICC  using the contact numbers below for more information.)
• Applicant must be a graduate from a Japanese university or have academic ability equal or superior to that of a Japanese university graduate. A person will be deemed to have academic ability equal or superior to that of a university graduate, if he/she:
  •  has completed or will complete a 16-year school curriculum in a foreign country (or an 18-year school curriculum if he/she desires to enroll in a doctoral course in the field of medicine, dentistry or veterinary science, or pharmacy which is founded on a 6-year department or faculty); or
  •  is or will be aged 22 or older and has taken an individual entrance qualification examination and has been judged by a graduate school as being equal or superior in academic ability to a university graduate (or 24 or older if he/she desires to enroll in a doctoral course in the field of medicine, dentistry or veterinary science, or pharmacy which is founded on a 6-year department or faculty).

Note: Eligible applicants include those who otherwise satisfy or will satisfy qualification requirements for admission to a Japanese graduate school. As a general rule, a person who has completed a doctoral course may not apply unless he/she seeks to obtain a degree.

• Applicant should apply for the field of study he/she studied at the previous university or any related field. Applicant must choose a field on which he/she can receive education and perform research at the university of his/her choice.
• Applicant must be willing to learn the Japanese language, interested in Japan, and enthusiastic about deepening his/her understanding of Japan after arriving, and capable of engaging in study and research while adapting himself/herself to life in Japan.
• Applicant must be physically and mentally healthy enough to pursue study at university.
• Applicant must be able to leave for and arrive in Japan between the dates that will be set by MEXT or within two weeks of the date set by the receiving university for the beginning of the semester. Travel expenses will not be provided if the Applicant is unable to travel to Japan during this set period. (Please contact JICC using the contact information below for more information)
• Selected Applicants must obtain a College Student ( ryuugaku ..) visa prior to his arrival in Japan.
• Applicants who are already in Japan under a visa other than College Student are required to change it to College Student by the end of the month preceding the start of the scholarship. Applicants who change their resident status to any status other than “College Student” after their arrival in Japan will immediately lose their status as a Japanese government scholarship student.

Disqualified Applicants:

• Applicants who are active members of the military or a civilian employed by the military
• Applicants who are unable to travel to Japan within the dates set by the receiving university
• Applicants who were grantees of a Japanese Government Scholarship in the past will not be selected unless they have had at least three years of research or teaching experience after completion of the first scholarship. This exclusion will not apply to a research-student applicant, who, as a foreign student in Japan, received training in the Japanese language and/or Japanese culture at a university and graduated from it, or who (ii) was a foreign student in Japan under the Japan-Korea Joint Science and Engineering Students Exchange Program.
• Applicants who are currently enrolled in a Japanese university under the resident status of “College Student,” or if he/she plans to enroll at a Japanese university as a privately-financed foreign student between the time of application for this scholarship and the time the scholarship period is due to begin.
• Applicants who are already the recipient of a scholarship from an organization (including a governmental organization in his/her country of origin) other than the Japanese government (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology MEXT)
• Applicants, considered a “future graduate” and selected as such, who were unable to graduate within the pre-set date or unable to fulfill graduation requirements

Application Procedure:

Each applicant must submit three sets of the following documents to the Japanese legation by the specified date. One set is required to be original documents. The other two sets may be photocopies thereof.

• 3 Original copies of Application (by the prescribed form)
• 1 Original copy of  Application form (Attachment)
• 1 Original copy of 2 photocopies of Research Program (Attachment)
• 4 Original copies of photograph (4.5 x 3.5 cm, taken within the past six months , upper body, full-faced, uncapped. Write your name and nationality on its back and paste it on the application form.)
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of academic transcript of each academic year of the last university attended (issued by the university attended)
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of graduation certificate or degree certificate of the last university attended (or an attested document certifying that the applicant will graduate from the school, where applicable)
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of recommendation from the principal or the adviser of the last university attended
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of recommendation from the present employer (if currently employed)
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of medical certificate on the prescribed form (issued by the medical institution designated by the Japanese Embassy/Consulate General)
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of medical certificate on the prescribed form (issued by the medical institution designated
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of abstracts of theses
• 1 Original copy and 2 photocopies of photograph showing applicant’s own works of art or a recorded tape of musical performance (only for those majoring in fine arts or music)

Note 1: These documents must be written in either Japanese or English. A document written in any other language must be attached with a Japanese or English translation.

Note 2: Photographs to be pasted on the original application must be original. Copies are not acceptable.

Note 3: Field of specialization and research program documents should clearly describe the applicant’s own research program because it will serve as important materials for placement of the applicant at a university.

Note 4: The academic transcripts of the last university attended should be prepared to show the grade scale applied and the grades earned by the applicant on all the subjects studied for each year studied at a university department/faculty and a graduate school. (A degree certificate or a graduation certificate simply showing the ranking of the applicant at graduation will not substitute for academic transcripts.)

Note 5: The graduation certificate and the degree certificate obtained from the last university attended may be substituted for by a photocopy thereof provided that the copy is attested by the authorized person of the university.

Note 6: For abstracts of the theses, abstracts of the graduation thesis and presented papers will suffice. Please note that these abstracts will be used as basic data for evaluation of the applicant’s academic ability.

Contact Information:

Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC)

Embassy of Japan

2627 Roxas Boulevard, 1300 Pasay City, Philippines

Phone: 551-5710 Ext. 2314/2316 Fax: 551-5784

E-mail: press@ma.mofa.go.jp

*Note: The MEXT scholarship is offered annually. The information provided above were taken from the requirements/qualifications/guidelines for the 2012 Research Scholarship selection process which recently ended. Some of these information may or may not have changed. For best results, please contact JICC to verify if the same requirements/qualifications/guidelines would still apply for the Research Scholarship for 2013.

Last Modified: May 16, 2012