Changes to the Application Policy
The University of Tokyo's Intelligence SGU Project
1️⃣ Starting in October 2025, only students who apply for the MEXT scholarship can apply for the program.
2️⃣ The test price is changed to 30,000 yen.
3️⃣ It is expected that the application period for October 25 students will be 1 month earlier than that for October 24 students.
4️⃣ In 2026, the program will be abolished and there will be a new way of admission, but it will remain open only to MEXT scholarship students.
What is the MEXT Scholarship for Japanese Universities?
What do I need to meet to apply?
What should I pay attention to when applying?
Don't worry, Azure Japan Study Abroad will interpret it for everyone!
01. What is the MEXT Scholarship?
Everyone must be familiar with "publicly-funded study abroad", not only Chinese-funded government-funded study abroad, but also Japan-funded government-funded study abroad.
Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Culture (MEXT) offers a government-funded scholarship system, which includes a full tuition waiver for four years of undergraduate, two years for master's degree, and three years for doctoral degree, a monthly subsidy of about 140,000 yen for living expenses, and two round-trip air tickets to China and Japan (the return ticket is a return ticket after the final graduation of the university).
There is such a good thing in the world, I don't have to spend money to go to school, and I can still receive money. So how do you apply for the MEXT Scholarship?
02. How to apply
There are two ways to apply: embassy recommendation and school recommendation. (Excludes privately financed international students who are currently studying at a Japanese university)
| Embassy recommendation | School Recommendation | |
| Applicant group | doctor | Hiroshi Honno |
| Selection Agency | Embassy in China, NSFC | school |
| Time of arrival in Japan | April, October | October |
Embassy recommendation
Doctoral Program
- About 100 places per year.
- The application period is in March every year, and the examination period is April ~ June (written examination and interview), and qualified candidates are recommended to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology by the embassy through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- For students who are not proficient in Japanese, they will be offered Japanese language courses at Tohoku Normal University for about 10 months, and then they will go to Japan in October of the following year.
Japanese Government Doctoral Scholarship Program in Japanese Studies
- About 4 places per year.
- In China, the selection application must be filled in through the China Scholarship Council Management Committee.
- The program has high requirements for Japanese and the number of students admitted is very small, so they do not need to go to a preparatory school to study Japanese in April of the following year after applying.
School Recommendation
- This method does not go through embassies or through the China Scholarship Council.
- Students apply to schools independently, and schools set up selection links and standards independently.
- Applicants for master's programs have the opportunity to apply for this scholarship.
- The scholarship is limited to applicants who apply in October, and the application deadline is February and March each year, and the results will be announced around May.
The above is a basic introduction to the MEXT Scholarship for studying abroad in Japan. In addition, self-financed international students who are currently studying at universities in Japan can also be recommended by the school to become government-funded international students.