The Japan Foundation offers scholarship tostudy the Japanese language for Asian students, who wish to study at graduateschools in Japan and have a strong wish to contribute to regional cooperationafter obtaining a Master or Ph. D Degree.

1. Features of the Asian Youth Fellowship Program

The scholarship grantees shall take a preparatory course in the Japaneselanguage and other subjects for approximately 7 months at the Japan FoundationJapanese-Language Institute, Kansai , situated in Osaka, Japan.Grantees shall live in the provided dormitory through the Program.

Grantees will thereafter be matriculated into Japanese universities as JapaneseGovernment (Monbukagakusho) scholarship students (Research Student or regularcourse students) from April 2007.

2. Field of Study

We welcome students wishing to studying in the fields of: Humanities and SocialSciences in principle, such as History, Archaeology, Law, Politics, Economics,Commerce, Education, Sociology, etc. Students majoring in study fields of Engineeringand Natural Sciences are also encouraged to apply.

* Fields of study must be one of those available at Japanese universities.Practical training given by factories or companies is excluded.

* Japanese Studies or Japanese Culture Studies are not fit for the purpose ofthis Program.

3. Qualifications

(1) Nationality:
Applicants must be nationals of one of the following countries; Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam.

(2) Age:
Applicants must be under 35 years of age as of April 1, 2007 (i.e. born on orafter April 2, 1972)

(3) Academic Backgrounds:
Applicants must be university or college graduates, who have completed thefundamental education of their countries, basically of 16 years (those who willgraduate from a university or college by the Registration Day of AYF mayapply).

(4) Study Area:
The study area must be in the same field as the applicant has studied (or isnow studying) or a related one.

(5) Others:
a. Applicants should not have Japanese language proficiency. Those who havelearned Japanese language and already acquired Japanese proficiency comparableto the Japanese Proficiency Test Level 3 are excluded.

b. Good proficiency in English is required.

c. Military men and military civilian employees registered on the personnellist are excluded.

d. Applicants should be in good health.

e. The grants may be canceled if grantees fail to arrive in Osaka, Japan, bythe Registration Day of AYF, 2006.

f. The applicant whose spouse has already won a Japanese Government scholarshipwill not be selected as a grantee, and likewise in the case of a coupleapplying at the same time.

g. The applicant who has been awarded a Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho)scholarship in the past will not be selected as a grantee unless he/she has hada few years' research or teaching experience after returning to his/hercountry.

h. It is not recommended for his/her family to accompany the applicant to Japanduring the AYF program.

4. Terms of Scholarship

The scholarship will be granted for a period of about 7 months, in principle,from the date of arrival in Osaka to March 2007. After completing the AYF Program, the JapaneseGovernment (Monbukagakusho) scholarship will be granted according to its ownregulation.

5. Scholarship Benefits during Preparatory Course

(1) Allowance:
1000 yen per day will be given to each grantee, in addition to the supply ofaccommodations during the preparatory course in Osaka, Japan.All meals will be provided by AYF.
　
(2) Transportation:
a. Transportation to Osaka
The grantee will be supplied with a economy class air ticket from theinternational airport nearest to his/her home address to Osaka.

b. Completion of the AYF preparatory course and coming to Japan
The grantee will first return to his/her home country after the completion ofthe 7 months preparatory course in Osaka, Japan. Aneconomy class air ticket for this trip will be supplied by AYF. For a trip fromhis/her home country to Japan, the transportation will be arranged by the Embassy of Japan inhis/her country, according to the itinerary of the Japanese Government(Monbukagakusho) Scholarship. Transportation..

(3) School Fees:
Fees for the preliminary training in Osaka and the entrance examination ofJapanese universities will be exempted.
　
(4) Accommodations:
Each grantee will be allocated a room in the dormitory arranged for thegrantees near the Preparatory Course Center in Osaka Accommodations

(5) Medical fee:
The grantees will be covered by insurance for accidents, illness and injuriesby AYF during their stay in Osaka, Japan (from the date of arrival throughMarch 2007).

* After completing the AYF Program, grantees will proceed to Japaneseuniversities as Monbukagakusho Scholarship students. Allowances,accommodations, and other status are subject to Monbukagakusho's regulations.

6. Selection

(1) Japanese diplomatic missions concerned will select preliminary candidatesfrom among applicants by means of a review of the documents submitted, incooperation with the foreign governments concerned.

(2) Those who have been selected as the preliminary candidates will berecommended to Asian Youth Fellowship Screening Committee, Tokyo, Japan.The Committee will select grantees from among the preliminary candidates bymeans of an interview made in their respective countries by a mission memberassigned and dispatched by the Committee.

(3) Final announcement will be provided by the Embassy of Japan in writingafter Monbukagakusho's approval to the decision by the AYF Screening Committee.The grantees of the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) scholarship for 2007will be finally selected after the university placement has been made, providedthey have passed the final examination of AYF.

AYF will provide the students with information on Japanese universities throughthe Program.

7. Application Procedure

Applicants must submit the followingdocuments according to the instruction given by the Embassy of Japan intheir own country by the date appointed. The documents submitted will not bereturned.

8. Notes

(1) Information on this scholarship program is available at the Embassy ofJapan

(2) A grantee will be deprived of his/her scholarship in any of the followingcases;

a. A false statement has been made on his/her application dossier.
b. He/she violates any article of his/her pledge.
c. He/she has been subject to disciplinary action by the Asian Youth Fellowshipor has no prospect for academic achievement (e.g. failure to achieve asatisfactory level in the Japanese language).

(3) After finishing the preparatory course in Osaka, the granteewill be studying in Japan as a Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) scholarship grantee. Itis therefore recommended that the applicant should read the guideline to theJapanese Government (Monbukagakusho) scholarship.

The application for AYF 2006 will be closedin Nov-Dec 2005
(the closing date will vary by country).
The closing date for each country will be announced after the schedule isconfirmed by the Japanese embassy in each country.

*EOJ=Embassy of Japan

9. Related Links:
The JapanFoundation:http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/index.html
Japan Foundation - Japanese LanguageInstitute, Kansai
Asia SEED: http://www.asiaseed.org
School on the Internet(SOI)-Asia: http://www.soi.wide.ad.jp/soi-asia/

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