Japan: Favorite destination for international students

Science and technology is the driving force behind Japan's development.

The greatest appeal of studying in Japan is its academic environment where one can study state-of-the-art technology and acquire the knowledge that enabled Japan's phenomenal postwar economic growth.

Japan promotes the acceptance of foreign students from various nations around the world. This is evident from the fact that in 2004, more than 84,000 foreign students enrolled for undergraduate and graduate levels in Japan, of which about 50,000 enrolled for science and engineering disciplines. Significantly, about 90 percent of the international students who study in Japan come from other parts of Asia.

Universities and institutes

There are about 700 universities in Japan, including national, state and private universities. Foreign students can enroll for one of the five types of institutions of higher learning: universities (undergraduate courses), graduate schools, junior colleges, special training colleges (post-secondary courses) and colleges of technology. The duration of study in an undergraduate university is four years with the exception of medicine and veterinary science department, which require six years of study. The study duration in a graduate school depends on whether a student has enrolled for a masters or doctorate program. The duration of the masters program is two years, while that of the doctorate program is five years, including the first two years of the masters degree. Some important universities offering life sciences courses in Japan include Gakushuin University, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Gunma University, Hiroshima Shudo University, Hokkaido Tokai University, Kyoto University, Nagasaki University, Osaka University, Science University of Tokyo, Tokyo University, Yokohama City University and many others.

Scholarships

There are several types of Japanese government-sponsored scholarships available: those for research students, undergraduate university students, college of technology students and special training students, besides a host of other schemes.

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