For Prospective International Students
Due to the high volume of inquiries, we have established the following guidelines. Please read this entire section carefully before contacting us.
1. First Step: The AAO Process
For all graduates or soon-to-be graduates of overseas universities, applications to Kyoto University graduate programs must always begin with the Admissions Assistance Office (AAO) process. This is an online procedure that serves as a preliminary review prior to the official application. Please review the instructions and complete the AAO application as your first step: Kyoto University AAO Information Page
2. Financial Support & Scholarships
Prospective international students are expected to secure adequate financial support prior to enrollment.
- Master’s Students: We do not provide any financial support (e.g., Research Assistantships or lab funding) for Master’s students. You must secure your own funding.
- PhD Students: Securing external funding such as the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation) is strongly recommended. Applications based solely on personal or family financial support are not encouraged. If you have a concrete plan for securing financial support, we can arrange an online interview.
- MEXT Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation): We welcome applicants through the Embassy Recommendation track. Please refer to Kyoto University’s website and feel free to contact us after you have passed the first screening conducted by the Japanese embassy or consulate.
- MEXT Scholarship (University Recommendation): We do not support applications through the University Recommendation track. This track is extremely competitive with only a few slots available for the entire university, making it practically impossible to secure. Please refrain from inquiring about this scheme.
3. Master’s Program Entrance Examination
If you successfully pass the entrance examination, we would be able to accept you as a student. Preliminary contact or approval from a professor is not required before applying.
- On-site Examination: All entrance examinations are conducted on-site in Japan. Online examinations are not available.
- Notification: Please notify us via the official email address after you have officially submitted your application for the Master’s entrance examination.
- Competitiveness: The Special Selection track (International Program) offers an extremely limited number of places.
- Preparation: We strongly advise you to focus particularly on the “Specialized Subjects”. Past entrance examination questions for the Social Informatics Course are available on the Graduate School’s Exam Archive.
4. Internships and Research Assistantships
We do not offer any financially supported positions (such as paid Research Assistantships) or remote/online internships. Please refrain from inquiring about these opportunities. However, if you wish to apply for an on-site internship and are fully funded by your own resources or an external organization (i.e., requiring absolutely no financial support from our laboratory), we may consider your request on an individual basis.
5. Research Students (Non-Degree)
Research students (non-degree students) are not accepted. An exception may be made only for applicants officially supported by the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation).
6. Contact Information
For all inquiries that are not answered above (e.g., Master’s applicants notifying us after application submission, PhD applicants with a concrete funding plan, MEXT Embassy Recommendation applicants who have passed the first screening, or fully-funded on-site internship applicants), please contact us using the official email address below and refrain from sending messages to individual professors’ email addresses.