General Information: Admissions -- Prospective Students

Admissions

Master's Programs (International Programs)

The international programs at GRIPS can be completed solely in English, while courses offered in Japanese can also be taken. Japanese language classes are provided for students who wish to study Japanese during their period of study.

The school operates an a four-term calendar with a 16-week Fall Term, 8-week Winter Term, 16-week Spring Term, and 8-week Summer Term. Most programs are completed in one or two years.

To accept students from a wide diversity of backgrounds, with/without work experience and from private/public sectors, we are offering the following Master's programs for international students:

Program		Enroll in	Program Duration	Degrees offered: Master of	Language	Target Group	Scholarship	others
	course	Enroll in	Program Duration	Degrees offered: Master of	Language	background /experience etc	Scholarship	others
Young Leaders （YLP）	School of Government	Oct	1 year	Public Administration/ Public Policy	English	Promising young government officials with at least 3 years' working experience in the area of public administration	MEXT	MEXT's YLP scholarship recipients only
Young Leaders （YLP）	School of Local Governance	Oct	1 year	Public Administration/ Public Policy	English		MEXT	MEXT's YLP scholarship recipients only
One-year Master's Program of Public Policy (MP1)		Oct	1 year	Public Policy/ Public Administration	English	Mid-career professionals and staff members in local or national governments and international organizations with strong leadership and managerial potential.	MEXT, Embassy of Japan (MEXT), ADB	Applicants supported with any other scholarships or self-financed applicants may also apply
Two-year Master's Program of Public Policy (MP2)		Oct	2 years (minimum 1.5 years)	Arts in Public Policy	English	Promising mid-career officials and staff members in local or national governments, international organizations, and private companies, with strong academic capacity for developing analytical and quantitative skills.	Embassy of Japan (MEXT), ADB
Public Finance (PF)	Tax	Sep	13 months	Public Finance	English	Government officials from developing countries worldwide who are currently working in tax or customs administration or equivalent departments, with 2-3 years of work experience in the relevant field	WB	mainly for scholarship recipients of WB borrowing countries
Public Finance (PF)	Customs	Sep	13 months	Public Finance	English		WCO	mainly for scholarship recipients nominated by their Customs Administration
Macroeconomic Policy (MEP)		Oct	1 to 2 years	Public Policy (1 year) Arts in Public Economics (2 year)	English	Government officials who are involved in designing and implementing macroeconomic policies, and professionals who need to understand macroeconomic fluctuations and the roles of monetary and fiscal policies	IMF	Applicants supported with any other scholarships or self-financed applicants may also apply
Disaster Management Policy (DMP)	Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster Mitigation	Oct	1 year	Disaster Management	English	Technical officials, engineers, or researchers in the fields of earthquakes, tsunamis, water-related disasters, and disaster risk-management policy in developing countries		Applicants in JICA designated countries only
Disaster Management Policy (DMP)	Water-Related Disaster Management	Oct	1 year	Disaster Management	English			Applicants in JICA designated countries only
Economics, Planning and Public Policy (EPP)		Oct	1 year	Public Policy (+Master's Degree from an Indonesian university)	English	Talented government officials from the central or regional government of Indonesia	Gov. of Indonesia	Indonesians officials with scholarship only
Japanese Language and Culture (JLC)		Oct	1 year	Japanese Language and Culture/Japanese Language Education	Japanese	Foreign teachers of the Japanese language abroad	Japan Foundation	Japan Foundation scholarship recipients only

Abbreviations
ADB	Asian Development Bank
IMF	International Monetary Fund
MEXT	Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology/Government of Japan
WB	World Bank
WCO	World Customs Organization

Doctoral Programs

The doctoral programs at GRIPS produce highly qualified researchers in the field of policy studies and public administrators and practitioners with professional expertise and skills in policy analysis.

The school operates an a four-term calendar with a 16-week Fall Term, 8-week Winter Term, 16-week Spring Term, and 8-week Summer Term. These programs are completed in three-five years with a minimum one-year residence for course works, followed by qualifying exams, preparation of dissertations, and an oral dissertation defense. To promote students research, many research opportunities are offered, such as joint research with supervisors and colleagues, conference participation and presentations, as well as financial supports through scholarships, TA/RA, tuition waiver, etc.

To accept students from a wide diversity of backgrounds, with/without work experience and from private/public sectors, we are offering the following programs for international students:

Program	Enroll in	Program Duration	Language	Field of Research	Degrees Offered: Ph.D. in	Target Group: background / experience etc	Scholarship
Policy Analysis (PA)	Oct*1	5 years (M.A. & Ph.D.)	English*2	Economics	Public Economics/ Development Economics/ International Economics (In the first two years, M.A. is also offered)	Those with a bachelor's and/or master's degree, interested in pursuing a career as researcher and analyst of: . public economics, . development economics, . international economics	GRIPS, MEXT, Embassy of Japan (MEXT)
Public Policy (PP)	Oct*1	3 years	English*2 and/or Japanese	General	Public Policy	Those who have demonstrated high academic capability after completing the Master Program in Public Policy or relevant studies	GRIPS, MEXT, Embassy of Japan (MEXT)
				Politics	Government
				Mathematical Analysis	Mathematical Analysis
				Development Policy	Mathematical Analysis
				Cultural Policy	Cultural Policy
Security and International Studies (SISP)	Oct*1	3 years	English*2 and/or Japanese	Security and International Studies	International Relations	Officials of national and local government with relevant work experience and academics interested in policy-oriented research	GRIPS, MEXT, Embassy of Japan (MEXT)
Disaster Management (DM)	Oct	3 years	English*2	Disaster Management	Disaster Management	Technical officials, engineers and researchers in the fields of water-related disasters and disaster risk management policy in developing countries	ICHARM JICA AUN/SEED-Net
Japanese Language and Culture (JLC)	Oct	3 years	Japanese	Japanese Language Education	Japanese Language Education	Japanese-language teachers or researchers abroad with the potential to become future leaders in Japanese Studies in their own countries

Abbreviations		*1	Indicates programs where enrollment month is negotiable
MEXT	Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan	*2	Indicates programs that can be completed solely in English
ICHARM	International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management
JICA	Japan International Cooperation Agency
AUN	ASEAN University Network
SEED-Net	Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network

GRIPS Admissions Policy

Professionals equipped with the skills to identify real policy issues, for the thorough analysis of policies and development of practical solutions, including policy formulation and evaluation
High-level researchers and experts in policy studies, as well as policy leaders for international organizations, national governments, and societies worldwide

To admit students who are both capable and enthusiastic about acquiring the skills needed to analyze policy issues from an academic standpoint
To admit not only a significant number of aspiring researchers on an ongoing basis, but also talented young and middle-echelon administrators and professionals who will spearhead policymaking worldwide, including in Japan
To admit a significant number of foreign students from all over the world
To admit students of diverse backgrounds without regard to their field of undergraduate specialization

General:

Each academic year, GRIPS admits 250 students for Master’s programs and 24 students for doctoral programs. For those who enter GRIPS in October, the academic year for Master's programs operates from October through next September.

For Master’s programs, deadlines to apply are set by each program in order to accommodate the selection process of scholarship sponsors. Roughly speaking, the deadline to apply for a scholarship is in early November. The final results of screening will be announced by the end of July at the latest.

For the Ph.D. and Doctoral programs, the application deadline varies depending on whether you seek financial aid, and whether you are a current or past GRIPS student. See Ph.D. and Doctoral Programs Summary table for more information.

For further details on the application process, check the "how to apply" section.

Admissions Office

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677 Japan
admissions@grips.ac.jp
Tel: +81-(0)3-6439-6046
Fax: +81-(0)3-6439-6050