MEXT Scholarship: Embassy Recommendation

The instructions below are for applicants who have already passed the Primary Screening conducted by the Embassy or Consulate of Japan in their home country and have received their Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening who wish to apply for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance from Ritsumeikan University.

All application procedures are conducted by the Embassy or Consulate General of Japan that is responsible for your home country/ territory. Please contact that organization for specific details regarding the application process in your country. The information below assumes that you have already followed the Embassy's or Consulate's application instructions and that you have passed the Primary Screening. Additional information may be found on the Monbukagakusho's website (Japanese only).

Applying for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance

Once applicants have received their application documents and their Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening back from the embassy, with the embassy's seals affixed, they should apply to Ritsumeikan University for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance.

1. Application Documents

Applicants must submit all of the documents listed below to the Ritsumeikan University International Center by email attachment. Please note that all documents should be stamped with the official seal of the Embassy or Consulate that conducted the Primary Screening. If possible, please consolidate your application documents into one PDF, with documents arranged in the order listed below, and use the save as reduced sized file function in your PDF viewer to reduce the file size. Set the name of the file to "application_YOUR SURNAME Given name Middle name" (ex: application_SMITH Johnathan Walter). If your name doesn't follow the "given name middle name surname" pattern, simply enter your full name as you would normally.

1. (Required) Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening
2. (Required) Application form for Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) Scholarship
   *Application forms must have the applicant's photo attached in the designated location.
3. (Required) Field of Study and Research Program Plan
4. (Required) Academic Transcript covering each academic year of the last university attended
5. (Required) Graduation certificate or degree certificate from the last university attended (or an attested document certifying the date on which the applicant will graduate from the school, if still enrolled)
6. (Required) Recommendation from the President/Dean or your adviser at the university where you are currently enrolled (or, if graduated, from your most recently enrolled university)
7. Recommendation from the present employer (if currently employed)
8. English or Japanese language proficiency test score sheet/certificate (if you submitted such a document to the Embassy/Consulate)
9. Abstracts of theses, if any (if you submitted such a document(s) to the Embassy/Consulate)
10. Medical Certificate
11. Photograph(s) showing applicant's own works of art, videos, or recordings of any musical performances, etc. (only for those majoring in fine arts or music, and only if you submitted such works to the Embassy/Consulate))
12. Application Survey (Ritsumeikan form/ No stamp is required.)

Additional Requirements and Notes:

• IMPORTANT: Applicants to graduate schools that conduct courses only in Japanese must submit proof of Japanese language ability at the time of their application (e.g. Passing Certificate of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)). Please refer to the lists of graduate schools that offer courses in each language, below. While often misunderstood, please understand in advance that the Japanese language training which embassy recommended scholars may enroll in before the start of their official graduate study is not enough to bring someone with only basic Japanese ability up to the level required to attend graduate courses taught only in Japanese. Intended participation in the Japanese language training will not be taken into consideration when screening applicants for admission.
• While often misunderstood, you DO NOT need to enroll as a non-regular student before enrolling into a Master's or Doctoral Program. Refer to the "ACADEMIC PATHWAY FOR RESEARCH STUDENTS" section of MEXT's Embassy Recommendation Scholarship Application Guidelines for details on the various possible enrollment paths.
• All documents must be in English or Japanese or be accompanied by an English or Japanese translation.
• Applicants who have not already done so should select their desired graduate school and field of study from the websites listed below. The following graduate schools offer their graduate level degree programs in English and no Japanese language ability is required.
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR)
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Policy Science (GSPS)
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Economics (GSE)
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Science and Engineering (GSSE)
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS)
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering (GSISE)
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Technology Management (MOT)
    *MOT's Doctoral Program is offered in English. The Master's Program is only available in Japanese.
  • Ritsumeikan University Graduate Schools that offer studies in Japanese
    *All of the graduate schools offer degree programs conducted in Japanese.
• All Applicants must select a desired supervising professor from the Researcher’s Database or from the faculty list on the individual homepage of their preferred graduate school, and include the name of that professor(s) on their Application Survey.
  *You do not need to ask permission from a professor(s) to include his or her name on your application. Simply enter the name of any professor(s) whom you believe would be a suitable match to supervisor your research. This is non-binding, and ultimately, a different professor may be appointed at the discretion of the graduate school.

2. Application Instructions

Once you have assembled all of the documents above please take clear scans of the documents and send them via email attachment (NOT via dropbox or google drive, etc.) to the Ritsumeikan University International Center as one combined PDF. DO NOT take super high resolution scans - so long as all text is legible the scans will be acceptable. Try and keep the size of your PDF under 10mb if possible.

Email Address:
cger-bkc@st.ritsumei.ac.jp

• Please note that the university's screening takes time, at least one month, so applicants who have a deadline to turn in their Letter of Acceptance should send their application documents as early as possible.
• Do not send any application documents or attachments directly to your desired graduate school or supervising professor.

3. Application Deadline

Friday, August 9, 2024
Applicants who do not contact Ritsumeikan University by the date above will not be able to receive a Letter of Provisional Acceptance for 2025.

4. Notification of Results

There will be no interim notification of your application status. Whenever and as soon as your application results are finalized, you will be notified by email, with a Provisional Letter of Acceptance attached if you were successful. We will strive to provide results to all applicants by the deadline established by MEXT.

Applicants who decide to withdraw their application to Ritsumeikan University before receiving their notification of results should contact the Ritsumeikan University International Center immediately at: cger-bkc@st.ritsumei.ac.jp.

5. Inquiries

All inquiries about admission to Ritsumeikan University under the Embassy Recommendation Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) Scholarship should be sent to the Ritsumeikan University International Center.