Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship Program for 2018

• Those who are enrolled in a course at an undergraduate department or faculty of a university, or who are receiving preparatory education in the Japanese language and other subjects prior to placement at university.

Requirements:

• Nationality:
  Applicants must have the nationality of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan.
  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 applicant’s country
• Age: Applicants, in principle, must have been born between April 2, 1996 and April 1, 2001.
• Academic Background: Applicants must meet one of the following conditions:
• Must have completed 12 years of school education, or are expected to complete said education by March 2018. (However, for applicants wishing to enroll from the autumn term through direct placement, applicants must be expected to complete the 12 years of school education by August 2018.
• Must have completed an educational course at a school equivalent to a high school, or are expected to complete the course by 2018. (However, those desiring direct placement are excluded.)
•   Other than the qualifications in ① and ② above, must have qualifications deemed to be suitable for enrollment in a Japanese university at the time of application.
• 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 submit a health certificate in the prescribed format signed by a physician attesting that the applicant has no physical or mental conditions hindering the applicant’s study in Japan.
• Arrival in Japan: In principle, applicants must be able to arrive in Japan between the 1st and 7th of April 2018. 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.

• The scholarship period will last for five years from April 2018 to March 2023, including the 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 scholarship period will be seven years until March 2025.

• Allowance: 117,000 yen per month. The scholarship is cancelled in principle if the recipient is absent from the university or preparatory Japanese-teaching institution for an extended period. 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 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 following situations
• The recipient is determined to have made a false statement on his/her application
• The recipient violates any article of his/her pledge to MEXT;
• The recipient violates any Japanese laws and is sentenced to imprisonment with or without work for life or for a period of exceeding 1 year;
• The recipient is subject to disciplinary action by the university, including expulsion (The scholarship payment may be stopped during the period up until punishment is decided by the university, etc.)
• It has been determined that it will be impossible for the recipient to complete the course within the standard course period because of poor academic grades or suspension or leave of absence;
• The recipient’s residence status has changed to one other than “College Student”;
• The recipient has received a scholarship from another institution (excluding those specified for research expenditures)
• The recipient has proceeded to a higher level of education without receiving approval for an extension of the period of the scholarship