By enrolling in the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), Kobe University, as Doctoral or Master’s students, you will have multidisciplinary and practical research opportunities in public international law. The Polar Cooperation Research Centre (PCRC) provides the opportunities to participate in its international symposia and workshops on the Arctic legal, policy and science issues, with prominent guest speakers from abroad.

GSICS has an English course, which provides classes taught entirely in English, including several classes in international law, international relations, and Japanese politics and economy. Your thesis can be submitted in English.

The MEXT scholarship provides monthly allowance (¥145,000 JPY for Doctoral Course students and ¥144,000 JPY for Master’s Course students), round trip traveling costs, and the tuition. The application has started already and its deadline is between late May and early June 2017, depending on the embassies. So please check the Japanese embassy website of the country of your nationality or contact the embassy directly for its announcement. After the first stage screening by the embassy in June to July 2017, the successful applicants must then contact Professor Shibata to obtain a letter of acceptance no later than 31 August 2017. The second and final screening by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) will be held in December 2017.

For more information, see the attached call