Program in Brief

The major objective of the Public Finance Program is to provide students with the conceptual understanding and technical competence to become leaders in taxation and customs.

 

The Public Finance Program is operated under the support of the World Bank (WB) as part of the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Partnership Program(JJ/WBGSP), and the World Customs Organization (WCO) as part of the Japan-WCO Human Resource Development Programme.

 

• Program Director: Associate Professor Dainn Wie
• Associate Program Director: Professor Masako Kurosawa
• Degree Offered: Master of Public Finance
• Scholarship (For International Students Only):

Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Partnership Program (JJ/WBGSP)  (for Tax Course)

Japan-World Customs Organization Human Resource Development Programme Scholarship(for Customs Course) *Eligible Countries/Regions

• Language of Instruction: English
• Time Schedule

Program duration…13 months (Customs course) / 12 months (Tax course)

Enrollment…September (Customs course) / October (Tax course)

Graduation…September

 

• Application Guidebook

Tax Course Application Guidebook 2023

Customs Course Application Guidebook 2023

 

Target Group

Government officials from developing countries worldwide who are currently working in tax or customs administration or equivalent departments, with at least 2-years for the Customs course and 3-years for the Tax course of working experience in the relevant field.

We also accept Japanese students.

 

Program Design

The program is comprised of two segments: an economics-oriented academic segment common to customs and tax scholars, and a practicum segment which is divided into tax and customs depending on the scholar’s stream.

 

The academic segment of the program provides rigorous economics-oriented training aimed at developing an understanding of the theoretical, empirical, and institutional aspects of tax and customs policy implementation and administration in the context of developing countries’ economic and social development. A practicum at the National Tax Administration or the Customs Training Institute provides an opportunity for students to enhance their learning with hands-on experience in a tax/customs-related work environment and to integrate this experience with their formal education.

 

Admissions

Please see blow for the detailed application procedure.

• How to Apply
• Application Guide 2023-2024

 

Eligibility Criteria Common to Tax and Customs Course

 

1. Irrespective of the funding source, eligibility for admission to the Public Finance Program consists of a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from a recognized, accredited university of the highest standard.
2. Applicants must be proficient in English (admission priority will be given to applicants who have a test score of TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS Academic 6.0 or higher). Applicants who have completed or expect to complete an undergraduate or graduate degree at an institution where the language of instruction is English may request a waiver of the English language proficiency requirement. For details, please refer to the Online Application Guide.

 

NOTE:

Following enrollment, you will be required to take an annual medical examination that is administered by GRIPS. Any false information found in the application documents may be the basis for denial of admission, or, if admitted, dismissal from GRIPS. If poor academic performance or suspension guarantees that the student will be unable to complete the course within the standard term, the provision of the scholarship may be terminated even during the school year.

 

 

TAX COURSE

• Eligibility Criteria for those applying for the Tax Course:

1. Be full-time government tax officials from developing countries.
2. Have at least 3 years’ work experience (as of March, 2022) in tax policy and administration and able to show that such work experience is related to development-related topics indicated by the World Bank.
   
3. Show promise of continuing his/her career in tax policy and administration.

 

• Eligibility Criteria for those applying for Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Participating Program (JJ/WBGSP)  for Tax Course:

 

       Please see the link below for more details

       Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Partnership Program (JJ/WBGSP)  

       

 

NOTE:

- Those seeking a JJ/WBGSP Participating Program scholarship must first apply for admission to GRIPS. GRIPS will make a short list of candidates and send it to the World Bank for the final selection.  The shortlisted candidates will be required to submit online application directly to the World Bank.

- You are expected to continue your career in tax policy and administration in your country at the conclusion of your studies to apply your enhanced knowledge and skills to help and accelerate the pace of economic and social development. Therefore, you cannot expect to enter a Ph.D. program for at least three years after completing your master’s study at GRIPS.

- Should your performance fall below a certain critical standard (e.g., falling a required course, or one that is important in the curricula), or you are unable to continue with schoolwork for any reason whatsoever, we may terminate provision of the scholarship, even during the school year. In the event of such an occurrence, you may also not be provided with a return air ticket.

 

• Scholarship Coverage (JJ/WBGSP Scholarship) for TAX Course

- A monthly stipend (JPY306,910) is provided to cover living expenses such as food, clothing, daily expenses including insurance, and various other miscellaneous expenses related to study at GRIPS. This stipend is fixed and cannot be increased to cover family members. The amount of your stipend may change slightly as a result of changes in the economic climate in Japan.

- Application fee, admission fee, and tuition (paid directly to GRIPS by the World Bank)

- An economy-class air ticket from your country to Japan upon enrollment at GRIPS and an economy-class air ticket from Japan to your home country upon completion of your studies at GRIPS

- Travel allowance: USD500 equivalent upon arrival, USD500 equivalent upon completion of your study

 

 

 

CUSTOMS COURSE 

• Eligibility Criteria for those applying for the Customs Course

Be active government officials, with at least 2 years’ work experience in customs policy and administration in their home countries at the time of enrollment, and preferably below 35 years of age as of April 1st in the year of enrollment.  Preference will be given to those who show promise in continuing their career in customs policy and administration upon returning to their home countries.

 

• Eligibility Criteria for those applying for Japan-World Customs Organization Human Resource Development Programme Scholarship for Customs Course:

1. Be a national of an eligible developing country member of the WCO

2. Be a customs officer of a developing member of the WCO with quality work experience of at least two (2) years in the field of customs policy and administration in his/her home country at the time of enrollment.

3. Be chosen and nominated by their Customs Administrations.

4. Individuals who have already been awarded a scholarship under the Japan-WCO Human Resource Development Programme in the past are not entitled to apply for this Scholarship Programme.

5. Preference will be given to applicants who have strong intention to utilize and apply their enhanced knowledge and skills toward the economic and social development of their countries, in particular, in the field of Customs.

6. Preference will be given to applicants who are younger than 35 years old as of April 1st in the year of enrollment.

7. It is required for applicants to have an arrangement of leave of absence or re-employment from their administration.

 

NOTE:

- Those seeking a WCO scholarship must first apply for admission to GRIPS. GRIPS will make a short list of candidates and send it the WCO for the final selection.
- Should your performance fall below a certain critical standard (e.g., falling a required course, or one that is important in the curricula), or you are unable to continue with schoolwork for any reason whatsoever, we may terminate provision of the scholarship, even during the school year. In the event of such an occurrence, you may also not be provided with a return air ticket.

 

• Scholarship Coverage (WCO Scholarship) for Customs Course
  

- A monthly stipend (JPY147,000 ) is provided for the 12-month period of the program. This is intended to cover living expenses such as food, clothing, and other daily expenses, as well as accommodations, transportation, medical treatment, insurance, and various miscellaneous expenses related to your study at GRIPS.  This stipend is fixed and cannot be increased to cover family members. The amount of your stipend may change in accordance with local economic conditions.

- Application fee, admission fee, and tuition (paid directly to GRIPS by WCO)

- An economy-class air ticket from your country to Japan upon enrollment at GRIPS and an economy-class air ticket from Japan to your home country upon completion of your studies at GRIPS

- Book allowance: JPY75,000

- Travel allowance: JPY25,000 upon arrival, JPY25,000 upon completion of your study

 

Public Finance Program Curriculum 2022/2023

Please see  GRIPS Bulletin  for brief descriptions of courses offered

 

(as of October 2022)

Category	Course Name	Instructor
I Required Courses	International Taxation of Japan	Matsuda
	Practicum at the National Tax Agency	Various
	Practicum in Customs Administration I	Kondo
	Practicum in Customs Administration II	Matsumoto Takashi
	Practicum in Customs Administration III	Kondo,Nojima, Fukuzono,Hamaoka,Ito
	Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement at Border	Yoneyama
	Microeconomics I	Wie
	Public Finance I	Ihori
	Thesis Seminar	Wie
	Tutorial(PF)	Wie
	The World and the SDGs	Tanaka Akihiko
II Highly Recommended Elective Courses	Macroeconomics I	Hsu
	Microeconomics II	Wie
	Government and Market	Hatanaka
	Introduction to Applied Econometrics	Wie
	Fiscal Reform in Japan	Ota
	Public Finance and Fiscal Policy	Matsuda
	Economics of Tax Policy	Yamazaki
	Reform of Economic Policy in Japan	Ota
	International Trade	Hsu
	Development Economics	Kijima
	Human Resources Management	TBA
	Customs Law	Kondo
III Elective Courses	Monetary Economics (Money and Banking)	Fujimoto
	Macroeconomics II	Matsumoto Hidehiko
	Finance and Economic Growth	Matsumoto Hidehiko
	Applied Time Series Analysis for Macroeconomics	Leon‐Gonzalez
	Applied Econometrics	Litschig
	Applied Econometrics Practice	Litschig
	Mathematics for Economic Analysis	Munro
	Political Economy	Izumi
	Economics of Law	Hatanaka
	Time Series Analysis	Leon-Gonzalez
	Development History of Asia: Policy, Market and Technology	Nakao
	Public Expenditure Management	TBA
	Introduction to Data Science	Tsuchiya
	Data Science in Practice	Takenouchi
	Local Government Finance	Takada
	Selected Topics in Policy Studies I-IV
	Courses not listed in this table
X Others	Language courses offered by the Center for Professional Communication

Career Destinations

Graduates from this program are expected to return to their host organizations to become fiscal leaders in taxation and customs. In fact, most of the graduates are still working at the tax and customs bureau in their home countries. To give a few examples of their current positions:

 

Tax Course

• Joint Commissioner, Department of Revenue & Customs, Ministry of Finance (Bhutan, 1999)
• Assistant Director (Policy and Research), Monitoring, Research and Planning Department, National Revenue Authority (NRA) (Sierra Leorne, 2006)
• Deputy Director, Zhejiang Provincial Office, State Administration of Taxation (China,2016)
• Commissioner Inland Revenue, Federal Board of Revenue (Pakistan, 2018)
• Deputy Commissioner, Kenya Revenue Authority (Kenya, 2018)
• Joint Commissioner of Income Tax (OSD), Circle 1(3)(1), International Taxation, Income Tax Department ,Ministry of Finance （India,2019）

Customs Course

• Director of Customs Control, Thai Customs Department (Thailand, 2008)
• Deputy Commissioner of GST, Central Board of Excise and Customs, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance (India ,2009)
• Deputy Director of Risk Management Division, Mongolian Customs General Administration (Mongolia, 2015)
• Assistant Director, General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia (Cambodia, 2017)
•        Director Revenue Management, Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority (Fiji, 2018)
•        Commissioner Inrand Revenue, Federal Board of Revenue(Pakistan,2018)

 

Origin and Affiliation of Current Students (2022-2023)

Country
Tax Course
India	Directorate of Income Tax (Administration and Taxpayer Services), Government of India
India	Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Indonesia	The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT)
Indonesia	The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT)
Kenya	Kenya Revenue Authority
Pakistan	Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)
Philippines	Revenue Operations Group, Department of Finance
Customs Course
Azerbaijan	The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Botswana	Botswana Unified Revenue Service
Brazil	Secretariat of the Federal Revenue of Brazil
Cambodia	General Dept. of Customs and Excise of Cambodia (GDCE)
India	Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Government of India
Indonesia	Directorate General of Customs And Excise
Japan	Office of Economic Partnership,Ministry of Finance
Paraguay	National Customs Directorate of Paraguay
Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka Customs
Tanzania	Tanzania Revenue Authority
Zambia	Zambia Revenue Authority

Recent Theses

• “FIXING THE REAL ESTATE TAXATION IN PAKISTAN: EXPLORING THE POLICY OPTIONS”
• “Introducing Value Added Tax System in Myanmar”
• “Impact of Import Taxes on Motor Vehicles Imports and Customs Revenue in Sri Lanka”
• “Effects of tariff rates on tariff evasion in Brazil”
• “DOES PUBLIC MONITORING PROGRAM INCREASE TAX REVENUE ON GOODS AND SERVICES TAX?EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA”
• “Impact of the AEO Program on the Importation Time in Kenya”
• “The Impact of the Authorized Economic Operator Accreditation Program on Trade Facilitation in Uganda”
• “The analysis of Okun’s law on the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries”
• “Does the Export-Promotion Policy Have an Impact on Export Performance?Evidence from the Duty Drawback Scheme in Indonesia”
• “Electronic services and their role in the Customs authorities - in the example of the program for submitting an electronic customs cargo declaration in Uzbekistan”
• “VALUE-ADDED TAX (VAT) AND ECONOMIC GROWTH”
• “TAX RATES AND TAX EVASION IN ZAMBIA”
• “Estimating Border Tax Evasion: Impact of Consumption Tax Increase”

 

 Ｐｒｏｍｉｎｅｎｔ　Ａｌｕｍｎｉ

• Mr. Dinusha Hettiarachchi 　(Graduated in 2015）

   Superintendent of Customs,

   Sri Lanka Customs

   Interview HERE

 

• Mr. Anar Suleymanov （Graduated in 2010）

　Head of Secretariat

　State Customs Committee

　Republic of Azerbaijan

　Interview HERE

 

• Ms. Perfect Ahamadzie （Graduated in 2016）

　Revenue Officer

　Customs Technical Services Bureau

　Ghana Revenue Authority

　Interview HERE