Application for "Letter of Provisional Acceptance", 2025 Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho:MEXT) Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation, Research Students)
as of June 4, 2024
Thank you for your interest in the MEXT Scholarship and Keio University. If you wish to enroll in Keio University through the Japanese Government(MEXT) Scholarship(Research Students), please read the following information and take necessary steps.
<IMPORTANT NOTES>
1. In the case of Keio University, BEFORE submitting the application documents for a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance", applicants themselves are required to obtain an informal acceptance from their preferred supervisor. As it takes a while to receive a supervisor's consent; searching for a supervisor, directly e-mailing him/her, discussing a research plan, etc., we highly recommend you to carefully read throughout this website well in advance so that you could immediately start to contact your preferred supervisor as soon as you receive the "Passing Certificate of the First Screening" from the Japanese diplomatic mission in your country.
informal acceptance:
At your side, just save an e-mail reply from a supervisor showing his/her consent to supervise your research. In the course of internal screening, the university confirms the suprvisor's consent based on your set of application documents on one of which you should indicate his/her name.
2. The application for a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance" will be completed when you fulfill the following requirements.
* First, you obtain an informal acceptance from your preferred supervisor by yourself.
* Second, you upload all the necessary documents on the designated Google Form by Aug 9, 2024 (JST)
It would be greatly appreciated if you could try to complete the application by Aug 5, 2024 (JST) as the university is closed in the following period.
*the university's summer break: Aug 9-18, 2024
The inquiry e-mails received during the university's summer break will be taken care of on Aug 19, 2024 onwards.
- * NO online application on Aug 10, 2024 (JST) or after is accepted.
- * NO submission of the application documents by E-MAIL is accepted.
3. After you complete the online application, it takes some three weeks or more (excl. the period of the university's summer break) for you to receive the university's screening result; approval/disapproval of the issue of a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance".
1. Pass 'First Screening'
Before applying for a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance", you must pass the 'First Screening' conducted by the Japanese diplomatic mission in your country. For further information, please confirm the guidelines in the following websites.
[English] Application Guidelines: JAPANESE GOVERNMENT (MEXT) SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2025 (RESEARCH STUDENTS)
[Japanese] 2025年度日本政府（文部科学省）奨学金留学生募集要項 (研究留学生)
2. Obtain supervisor's informal acceptance by e-mail
(1) Choose your Graduate School.
－Search for your preferred graduate school, referring to the website below.[Faculty Profile Links]
[Field of Study]
[Degree Programs Offered in English]
*Native-level Japanese language proficiency is required for applicants seeking to obtain a degree at a Keio University graduate school that is not listed on the above page.
<Japanese Language Education>
- If deemed necessary by your supervisor, MEXT can provide one-semester-long full-time preparatory Japanese language course in the first semester after your arrival in Japan or part-time Japanese language courses. In addition to your study/research plan, please do discuss with your prospective supervisor whether you should take any Japanese language courses.
- Especially, if you seek to obtain a degree of a Japanese program, please discuss with your prospective supervisor well in advance as to how you will acquire Japanese language proficiency to prepare for the entrance examination. Please note that if you are a Japanese beginner, the one-semester-long full-time preparatory Japanese language course (not to mention the part-time courses) may not be enough to pass the entrance examination.
To Applicants for Graduate School of Business Administration (KBS)
- At KBS, degree programs are basically conducted in Japanese. Since their programs are discussion-based, students will be required to have high language proficiency in Japanese. More specifically, students whose native language is not Japanese must have at least JLPT N1 to join discussion in class.
(2) Contact your preferred supervisor.
－Choose your preferred supervisor, referring to the website below.
[Faculty Profile Links]
－Directly send an e-mail to your preferred supervisor.
* Only after passing the 'First Screening', start to contact a professor.
* Carefully compose your first e-mail including the following components.
- Self-introduction as MEXT Scholarship candidate who have passed the 'First Screening' conducted by the Japanese diplomatic mission
- Request to consider your supervision in the case that you are placed to Keio University as MEXT Scholar in AY 2025
- Timeline of the application for a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance" issued by Keio University; clarify that you would like him/her to reply to your request at his/her earliest convenience as you need to obtain a prospective supervisor's informal acceptance before applying for a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance".
- Files incl. "Passing Certificate of the First Screening", "Application Form", "Research Plan", etc., documents for the professor's consideration
- Certificate(s) verifying your language proficiency required by the graduate school which you intend to be enrolled in; e.g., 'N1 Level / JLPT' for those who seek to obtain a degree of a Japanese Program
* When you have NO reply from the professor after waiting for a while:
- Re-send e-mail(s), politely asking about his/her intention and highlighting the deadline, Aug 9, 2024 to apply for a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance".
* When you have NO reply from the professor after sending e-mails multiple times:
- Forward ALL the e-mails you sent out to the professor to: ic-mext*adst.keio.ac.jp by Aug 5, 2024
- (Please put @ into the above E-mail address instead of *.)
<Important Notes>
- We recommend consulting your current university professors and have them introduce you to a suitable Keio professor. You may also find it helpful to review academic journals or other publicly available resources. Please be aware that MEXT Scholarship Coordinators will not introduce any KEIO Professors to you.
- You must describe your research plans in detail to your chosen professor to make sure they are able to supervise you in that field and that the research plan is acceptable to them. Please contact your preferred supervisor as early as possible as there may be circumstance that prevent them from being able to supervise research, including retirement, overseas research, sabbatical leave, incompatibility of research topic, etc.
- When you have more than one preferred supervisors in mind, please refrain from contacting 2 or more professors simultaneously. Contact one by one (from 1st priority, then 2nd, and 3rd...) in order to avoid confusion and inconvenience for the professors. In the case that you decide to withdraw your request for the professor of your 1st priority, do not forget to e-mail him/her to inform your intention of withdrawal BEFORE contacting the professor of your 2nd priority.
- Do not request your prospective supervisor to issue a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance", as it should NOT be issued by a professor, but be officially issued by the graduate school after passing the university's internal screening.
3. Request a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance"
★Deadline： August 9, 2024 (JST)
It would be greatly appreciated if you could try to complete the application by Aug 5, 2024 (JST) as the university is closed Aug 9-18, 2024.
★Online Form to submit the application documents:
https://forms.gle/Zy4LuaXtAPoLcWaV6
*NO online application on Aug 10, 2024 (JST) or after is accepted.
*NO submission of the application documents by E-Mail is accepted.
★Required Documents:
1. 'CheckList2025.docx'
3. Copy of 'Passing Certificate of the First Screening' issued by the Japanese diplomatic mission
4. Copy of 'passport' (the page which shows your personal information and your passport photo).
If you don't currently have a passport, you can omit this item.
5. Copies of the documents submitted to the Japanese diplomatic mission that were stamped by the mission
and returned to the applicants.
* DO NOT submit 'Placement Preference Form'.
* Please make sure that the documents are being stamped, and that all writing and photographs are clear and legible.
5-① 'Application Form'
5-② 'Field of Study and Research Plan'
5-③ 'Academic Transcripts' (in English or Japanese) of ALL ACADEMIC YEARS of Universities Attended
5-④ 'Certifications of Graduation' or 'Degree Certificates' (in English or Japanese) of ALL Universities Attended
5-⑤ 'Recommendation Letter' from the president/dean or the academic advisor at the current or last university attended
5-⑥ 'Medical Certificate'
5-⑦ 'Abstracts of Theses' (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
5-⑧ 'Certificate of Language Proficiency' (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
5-⑨ 'Recommendation Letter' from the present employer (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
5-⑩ Photograph(s) showing applicant's own works of art or a digitally recorded media of musical performance
(only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
6. <> the Certificate, the Pledge for ASJA (Asia Japan Alumni) International or any other documents to confirm you are a MEXT-ASCOJA student. If you have not received any documents concerning MEXT-ASCOJA yet, please make a document on your own and upload it in any given format.
*ASEAN Countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao PDR
*Applications missing any of the above documents will NOT be accepted.
*The application documents will NOT be returned. Please make sure you retain a copy for your own records.
Contact Offices of Keio University MEXT Scholarship Coordinators:
※There are two contact offices depending on the graduate school you are applying for.
Applicants for: ALL graduate schools other than Graduate School of Science and Technology
<ATTN> MEXT Scholarship Coordinators, Office of Student Services (International Exchange Services Group), Keio University
<E-mail> ic-mext*adst.keio.ac.jp (Please put @ into the E-mail address instead of *)
Applicants for: Graduate School of Science and Technology
<ATTN> MEXT Scholarship Coordinators, Office of Student Services (International), Graduate School of Science and Technology, Yagami Campus, Keio University
<E-mail> ic-yagami*adst.keio.ac.jp (Please put @ into the E-mail address instead of *.)
4. Notification of Results
After previewing your documents, MEXT Scholarship Coordinators will request the graduate school and professor listed on your "Information Form" to screen your application. A "Letter of Provisional Acceptance (PDF)" will be sent via e-mail to those who pass the university screening. If your application is disapproved, MEXT Scholarship Coordinators will inform the applicant through the e-mail address given in the "Information Form". Note that Keio University does not guarantee that a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance" will be issued to every applicant.
5. Second Screening and University Placement
MEXT determines university placement. Neither the applicant nor Keio University has authority to make this decision or influence its outcome. Additionally, a "Letter of Provisional Acceptance" does not guarantee an assignment to Keio University.
* Entrance to a Master's / Professional / Doctoral program *
In a case that you are assigned to Keio University by MEXT, your status at the university just after enrollment will be a non- regular student. In order to proceed to a regular course (Master's / Professional / Doctoral), you must take and pass an entrance examination and thus we strongly recommend that you carefully read the application guidebook BEFORE coming to Japan and that you bring the documents with you which will be necessary when applying for the course.
(e.g.) "Certificate of Graduation", "TOEFL Score", etc. (Required documents differ depending on graduate schools.)
＜Keio Admissions website＞
https://www.keio.ac.jp/en/grad-admissions/
* There are NO specific entrance examinations exclusively for MEXT Scholars. You need to take a general entrance examination.
* The timing of matriculation (spring/fall), timing/frequency of entrance examinations, necessary documents for application differ depending on graduate schools.
* MEXT Scholarship Coordinators do NOT give any instructions regarding entrance examinations. You are required to collect necessary information by yourselves.