Study in Japan: JDS and GRIPS Deadline of Application

The Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) Project is now open for  those who may want to start in 2010. The JDS is administered by Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE). Its target are young government employees in the field of Public Administration, Economics, Business Administration, Information Communication Technology and Industrial Development. Programs are taught in English.

Deadline for application: October 15, 2009

Result: Mid-March 2010

Website: Philippines

Program: Master's
Duration: 2 years
What the scholarship includes:

-Tuition for Japanese University

-Tuition and living allowance for the pre-departure training in Makati City

-One round-trip ticket between Philippines and Japan

-Monthly allowance for living in Japan

-One time arrival allowance of 250,000 yen (not sure about this if they still implement it until now)

My Note: The competition in this scholarship is really tight. There are four screening stages for this scholarship (composing of document evaluation, English Proficiency Test, the IELTS and Math exam,  Technical interview and Panel final interview). And they only select like two for each program each school. If you really want to be immersed in the Japanese language and culture, then try this one out. You'll have Japanese language training here and in Japan before the program starts. If you are selecting IUJ, then don't expect a Tokyo way of living because it is located in Niigata, a rural area. You'll have more opportunity however in learning the way of Japanese because you'll have more interactions with Japanese-speaking people.  I have not visited the other schools personally so please check out their sites for info.

For GRIPS (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), Tokyo,  here is the list of programs and their deadlines:

One-year Master of Public Policy - December 4, 2009
Two-year Master of Public Policy - April 1, 2010
Five-year PhD Policy Analysis Program -Dec 4, 2009
Three-year PhD Public Policy Program -Dec 4, 2009

Website: GRIPS Tokyo