The basic requirements for entry to the Ph.D. course are as follows:

1. Completion of a master's course (or expected completion by the day of admission) at a Japanese university. 2. Completion (or expected completion) of a postgraduate course equivalent to a master's course in Japan, at an accredited foreign institution within or outside Japan. 3. Completion (or expected completion) of a postgraduate course equivalent to a master's course through a distance education program offered by a foreign university while living in Japan. 4. Engagement in research work at a university or research institution for at least two years after graduation from a Japanese university, and having received the approval of Sokendai as achieving research equivalent or superior to the academic credentials of one who has completed a master's course. 5. Engagement in research work at a university or a research institution for at least two years after 16 years of formal education outside Japan or completion of 16 years of formal education through a distance education program offered by a foreign school while living in Japan, and having received the approval of Sokendai as achieving research equivalent or superior to the academic credentials of one who has completed a master's course. 6. Approval of an applicant through Sokendai's individual qualification screening procedure as one whose academic credentials are equivalent to or superior to those who have completed a master's course. Such an applicant must be at least 24 years old.

Note: Applicants who do not have a master's degree itself (4, 5 or 6) may be asked by Sokendai to undergo additional screening to determine their academic level. The examination is based on the applicant’s documents, and in some cases on the oral examination / interview.

Basically, our assessment covers the following five questions:
- Do you have enough enthusiasm to carry out the proposed research?
- Do you have a strong sense of purpose for exploring a new research area?
- Do you have a broad perspective on the research field with respect to the research goals?
- Do you have sufficient abilities to pursue your research goals?
- Do you have the required academic background and language ability to pursue the research?

Please refer to our Japanese website, contact Sokendai or NII, obtain the Japanese Application Guidebook and submit a formal application following the instructions in the guidebook.

All required documents and the application fee (postal money order) should be submitted directly to Sokendai. You must include one letter of recommendation from your home institution.

Send by mail to:
Student Affairs Section
　　The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sokendai)
　　Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan

For applicants who are not able to apply in Japanese, please contact us (Research and Education Support Team ) so that we can send you English application forms. In this case, all required documents must be sent to your expected advisor.

We request that you submit all of the following documents at the same time during the application period.

1. Application Form with ID photo (6×4 cm) (prescribed form) 2. Application fee: 30,000 Japanese yen (this is a non-refundable payment) 3 Certificate of graduation or expected graduation from a Master’s program(Original or attested (certified) copy)(in English or Japanese) 4. Official academic transcript for undergraduate and master’s course (in English or Japanese) 5. Photocopy of master thesis or published papers 6. Summary of Research 7. List of published papers 8. Research proposal (future research plan) 9. Letter of recommendation written by the dean of the applicant’s home institution addressed to the President of SOKENDAI (free format) 10. Proof of language skills (such as TOEFL, TOEIC, etc.), if available (for applicants from non-English speaking countries) 11. Photocopy of Foreign Resident Registration Certificate (for applicants living in Japan) Photocopy of birth certificate or residence certificate issued from the country of citizenship (for overseas applicants) 12. ID photo (4.5 x 3.5 cm) for the admission ticket for examination

For October 2011 entry course / April 2012 entry course (First application period) :
Friday, July 22, 2011, to Thursday, July 28, 2011

(* If a candidate is living abroad or can't understand Japanese in spite of living in Japan,
please submit the documents by July 15h , 2011. )

 

For April 2012 entry course (Second application period) Dead line:
Friday, December 9, 2011 to Thursday, December 15 2011

(* If a candidate is living abroad or can't understand Japanese in spite of living in Japan,
please submit the documents by December 2nd , 2011. )

Prior to making a formal application for the year, you should consult with the NII faculty member in charge of the research field that you want to study and ask if he/she is able to be your research advisor. You must consult with him/her to discuss your intended research plan.

Research topics of NII faculty members: http://www.nii.ac.jp/graduate/advisor/index_e.html

The application must be made through your advisor at NII.
Please note that applicants who do not have an advisor may not be eligible for the screening process.
From time to time we may require more specific materials, so please confirm with your advisor that you have the latest application materials.

Privately financed students may also apply for the National Institute of Informatics (NII) Scholarship. For further details, please visit our web page Fees & Scholarships.

Send by airmail to:
Attention to: Prof /Assoc. Prof. (applicant’s expected advisor)
National Institute of Informatics (NII)
National Center of Sciences Building
2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 101-8430 JAPAN

The mailing address for applications is given above. NII will perform a pre-check of the material to ensure that it is completed, assess NII scholarship eligibility (if applied for) and forward the materials to Sokendai directly.

Non-Japanese applicants living outside Japan who are not able to come to Japan will usually be excused from the interview process. In this case, selection is based on the review of personal documents. Before the review, your advisor will conduct an interview on site or an online interview with two other faculty members at NII. Applicants are required to have an excellent academic record at a graduate university and sufficient linguistic capability.
After the review, the NII committee will reach a joint decision on whether or not you will be admitted. Each committee member determines your aptitude based on the Evaluation and Selection Criteria and the information provided on the application forms. After the committee reaches a decision this is then passed on to a meeting of all faculty members who discuss whether or not you will be able to successfully carry out the research project and write a doctoral thesis within the time frame of the course. You will receive notification of the final decision of this faculty meeting about one month later by mail.

For non-Japanese applicants living in Japan, the interview (about 20 minutes) will be held at NII and is attended by a committee of NII faculty members.

The interview will focus on your recent research conducted during a master’s course (or an equivalent academic paper) and on the research that you plan to conduct during the doctoral course. Usually the interview takes the form of a presentation followed by a question and answer session with the committee. This will be an opportunity for the committee to discover qualities about you that were not adequately expressed in the written documents or the presentation. For Japanese students, we usually request that part of the presentation be given in English so that we can assess your English capability. For the interview you should bring either OHP slides or a laptop that can display presentation software (e.g. MS PowerPoint) on a beam projector. We also require that you send us hard copy of all presentation material to arrive at least four days prior to the interview. Please send the material by registered mail and mark it as "Presentation Material".

- Interview date
- For October 2011 course entry: September 1-2, 2011(one day in this period)
- For April 2012 course entry:
1st Application: September 1-2, 2011 (one day in this period)
2nd Application: February 1-2, 2012 (one day in this period)

- Interview location
National Institute of Informatics (NII)
National Center of Sciences Building
2-1-2, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

NII is within 5 minutes walking distance from the "Jinbocho" subway station, exit No. A8 and "Takebashi" subway station, exit NO. 1b.

Presentation materials should be submitted to the above NII address no later than the date below;
- For October 2011 course entry: August 26, 2011
- For April 2012 course entry:
1st Application: August 26, 2011
2nd Application: January 27, 2012

You will be notified of the results as follows:

Application for enrollment in October 2011: Late September 2011
Application for enrollment in April 2012:
1st Application period: Late September 2011
2nd Application period: Late February 2012

For successful applicants from abroad, NII will help you to prepare the necessary documents for obtaining a student visa to enter and stay in Japan.