Scholarship Overview

The Monbukagakusho Honors National Scholarship for privately-financed international students is a Japanese government scholarship that supports foreign students studying higher education in Japan. The Monbukagakusho Honors National Scholarship is called the MEXT scholarship. MEXT is the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. 

The Monbukagakusho Honors National Scholarship for privately-financed international students scholarship can be applied to undergraduate and graduate universities, junior colleges, colleges of technology, and many more. The Monbukagakusho scholarship can accept 7,870 applicants annually. Of this total, 7,170 come from the undergraduate and graduate level and 700 come from Japanese language institutes. There aren’t any universities or Japanese language institutes that are suspended from this scholarship. Monthly stipend for the graduate/undergraduate level is 48,000 yen per month and the monthly stipend for Japanese language institutes is 30,000 yen per month. The scholarship lasts for 12 months, from April in the academic year to March in the following year.

How Can I Apply?

In order to apply for this scholarship, candidates must have a student visa and can not receive any type of government scholarship. Eligibility for grant of this scholarship requires that students must be full-time in their perspective institution. More conditions to the eligibility can be found here.

Guideline Information

Be sure to follow the guidelines that align with your academic path. There are separate scholarship guidelines for university applicants and Japanese language institute applicants. Both guidelines are in Japanese. The scholarship guideline for university students can be found here. The scholarship guideline for Japanese language institute students can be found here.

Scholarship Itinerary

In previous years the selection process was as follows: in late March there is a notice of invitation of applications, mid-May is the last day for recommendations, mid-June is when selection results are in, and mid-July is the first transfer of the scholarship.

Conditions Upon Receiving Scholarship

Upon receiving this scholarship, there are conditions to be met. Some conditions include maintaining at least a 2.30 GPA, cooperating with career path surveys through JASSO, and more. Also, allowance received may not exceed 90,000 yen per month. Other financial logistics require that candidates must not receive a scholarship that can not be combined with other scholarships or receive support from JASSO’s international students support program. Lastly, if a student has a financial supporter in Japan, their annual income must be less than five million yen.

Past Recipient Results

In 2018, 144 applicants from Hokkaido University received the Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship, 129 from Tohoku University, 191 from University of Tokyo, 194 from Tokyo Institute of Technology, and many others from a wide range of universities. Selection results on recipients of the Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship can be found here. Additional selection results in English can be found here. The selection results indicates a recipient’s academic level, university, and nationality.

Past Recipient Testimonials

The Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship also provides testimonies from past recipients under the topics: “Preparation for coming to Japan”, “Life in Japan as a student”, and “Job hunting in Japan or entering the next stage of education”. These testimonies are in English and can be found here.

Sources: http://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/education/highered/title02/detail02/sdetail02/1373897.htm

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