Japanese Government Scholarship (MEXT scholarship)
MEXT, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology or Monbukagakusho has been inviting foregin students to study and do research in Japan.For students/graduate students/graduates who have a degree higher than B.S./B.A. and want to enroll graduate programs of Japanese universities, there are two ways for applying the MEXT scholarship. (Note: this information is as of 2005.4. The procedure are very changale, so please check the latest information by yourself.)
- Embassy recommendation: You can apply for the MEXT scholarship through the Japan Embassies/Consulates-General overseas recommends applicants to MEXT. The outline of the procedure is as follows. 1) Conact Japan Embassy/Consulate in your country and get the application form for the first selection. This selection selection will be made by documentary exam, paper tests, and interview. 2) If you pass the first screening, then you have to find a host professor in Japan who can accept you as a graduate student. 3) Prepare documents for the second screening including the acceptance letter from the host professor, the recommendation from references in your country and so on. For further information, please contact Japanese Embassy in your country or visit their web page.
- University recommendation: You can apply for the MEXT scholarship through the university recommendation. In this case, all of the procedure will be made by your host professor. Therefore, the first step you have to do is to find a host professor. Although you can apply the scholarship after you arrive in Japan, we do not recommend that because it takes about a year to enroll the graduate school after the application.
There're lots of documents neccesary to the application, and half of them must be prepared by the host professor. In addition, the competition is very tough and it is almost impossible unless you have an excellent academic record.
The stipend is 175,000 yen per month (as of 2005.4).