Graduate Institute for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI[Informatics Program]
Doctoral Program 2025
Special Admissions for Applicants Residing Abroad(Privately Financed International Students)

1. General Prospectus
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI was founded as a national university
in Japan on October 1, 1988. The basic concept of SOKENDAI is to develop a new postgraduate
education system in Japan. Its key features are as follows:
1)

SOKENDAI offers both three-year and five-year doctoral programs.

2)

SOKENDAI consists of 20 programs under one institute operated by 20 Inter-University
Research Institutes and Independent Administrative Institutions (“parent institutions”).

3)

Research and education are carried out in close cooperation with the parent institutions.

4)

Broad and international visions are fostered by enhanced interchange between various
institutions and universities in Japan and abroad.

The parent institutions provide Japanese and foreign scientists with opportunities to conductadvanced joint research in various scientific branches. They are equipped with extensive
research facilities and function as centers for advanced studies. Presently, they cooperate toestablish a world-class program for postgraduate education at SOKENDAI.
[Admission Policy]<What SOKENDAI expects of our grad students>
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, seeks students who have a strong
interest in research, who constantly hone their abundant intellect and sensitivity with the aim ofconducting research that will open up a new era, while taking a “bird's-eye view” of the entire
field of study, and who have the will and enthusiasm to be active on the international stage.
<Basic policy for the selection of our grad students>
In selecting students for admission, SOKENDAI places importance on basic academic ability
and logical thinking ability to actively promote research in the cutting-edge 20 research institutes
affiliated with SOKENDAI. In order to properly judge such abilities, various selections will bemade according to the respective fields of specialization.

2. Informatics Program Outline

Informatics is a scientific field that studies many problems related to information extensively andsynthetically.

Informatics started as a field based on a core of traditional information science,

information engineering and information processing.

Now informatics is a multidisciplinaryscience covering computer science, information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), datasciences, human-machine interfaces, and studies of methods for acquiring and handlinginformation in natural science, humanities, social science, and so on.
Informatics serves as a pillar of all scientific and engineering fields by exploring methods about
information,

thatis,extraction,representation,storing,management,processing,communication, utilization, and update of information. Informatics thus greatly contributes toadvanced goals in industry and improvement in human life.
The Informatics Program at SOKENDAI consists of six sub-fields: Foundations of Informatics,
Information Infrastructure Science, Software Science, Multimedia Information Science,Intelligent Systems Science, and Information Environment Science. It has a unique education
system where National Institute of Informatics (NII) provides an excellent education andresearch environment for Ph.D. students of the program with rich and advanced IT facilities aswell as leading IT researchers. Internationality is also one of the notable strengths of theprogram; more than 80 students including many foreign students from over ten countries arelearning together, and many classes and seminars are conducted in English. Through their daily
life in the program, students are able to gain valuable experiences in a multicultural, multilingual
environment which will likely help in their future global activities.
List of Faculty: https://www.nii.ac.jp/graduate/en/about/advisor/

3. Doctoral Degree Requirements
A Doctor of Philosophy degree shall be conferred on students who have satisfied therequirements of their respective doctoral programs, as prescribed below:[Three-year doctoral program]Students must be enrolled in SOKENDAI for at least three years, earn the necessary credits,
receive the necessary research guidance, and pass the examination for a doctoral thesis.
Students who are recognized as having achieved significant progress may be able to graduate
in a shorter timeframe.
[Five-year doctoral program]Students must be enrolled in SOKENDAI for at least five years, earn the necessary credits,
receive the necessary research guidance, and pass the examination for a doctoral thesis.
Students who are recognized as having achieved significant progress may be able to graduate

in a shorter timeframe.

4. Doctoral Programs and Number of Students Accepted
Doctoral Programs

Number of Students Accepted
April 2025

October 2025

Three-year doctoral program

SeveralSeveralFive-year doctoral programSeveral

Several

5. Qualifications for Application[Qualifications for the three-year doctoral program]
Applicants must fulfill one of the following conditions:
1)

Master’s degree or a degree equivalent to a Professional degree has been conferred or is
expected to be conferred by the month preceding enrollment;

2)

Have been recognized by SOKENDAI as having academic ability equivalent to or superior
to those who have a master’s degree or a professional degree by the individual screeningof the Admission Qualifications of SOKENDAI and have attained an age of 24 years by theend of the month preceding enrollment.

Notes:*The qualifications do not concern the date of completion of the master’s course of study, but
the date of conferral of a master’s or equivalent professional degree.
*Applicants who intend to apply under the above provision (2) are required to have a qualification
screening to confirm “having academic ability equivalent to those who have a master’s degree
or a professional degree” before the application can be submitted.
Additionally, those who have completed or are expected to complete a master’s course before
the enrollment in the doctoral program but are not expected to be granted a master’s orprofessional degree by that time must undergo extra screening procedures before applying. If
applicable, please contact the Student Affairs Section via email before May 29, 2024 (FirstRound) or November 6, 2024 (Second Round).
*Besides the above qualifications (Qualifications 1 and 2), eligible applicants include those whootherwise satisfy or will satisfy the qualification requirements for general admission toSOKENDAI. If you have any questions regarding the qualifications for admission, pleasecontact the Student Affairs Section in advance.

[Qualifications for the five-year doctoral program].
Applicants must fulfill one of the following conditions:1)

Have completed or are expected to complete a 16-year course of school education in aforeign country by the month preceding enrollment;

2)

Have graduated or are expected to graduate from a Japanese university as specified in
Article 83 of the School Education Law by the month preceding enrollment;

3)

Have been conferred or are expected to be conferred a degree equivalent to a bachelor’sdegree by the month preceding enrollment by completing an educational course of three ormore years at a foreign university or in a foreign educational institute;4)

Have completed a 15-year course of school education in a foreign country by the end of themonth preceding enrollment.

5)

Have been recognized as having academic ability equivalent to a university graduate or
higher by the individual screening of Admission Qualifications of SOKENDAI, and haveattained an age of 22 years by the end of the month preceding enrollment.

Notes:
Applicants who intend to apply under Provisions 4) or 5) are required to undergo qualification
screening before the application can be submitted. If applicable, please contact the StudentAffairs Section via email before before May 29, 2024 (First Round) or November 6, 2024
(Second Round).
*Besides the above qualifications 1)–5), eligible applicants include those who otherwise satisfy
or will satisfy the qualification requirements for general admission to SOKENDAI. If you haveany questions regarding the qualifications for admission, please contact the Student Affairs
Section in advance.

6. Required Conditions and Notes
Applicants are expected to satisfy each of the following conditions.
1)

Are foreign nationals currently residing overseas.

2)

Arrival in Japan: Are able to arrive in Japan in time for the semester that begins in April 2025
or October 2025.

3)

Health:Are physically and mentally healthy enough to complete graduate studies at auniversity in Japan.

4)

Language Ability: Have a good command of English or Japanese.

5)

Security Export Control: Depending on the specifics of the education and researchinstructions they wish to receive upon entering the doctoral program, applicants may besubject to regulations on the export/transfer of controlled technologies based on the Foreign
Exchange and Foreign Trade Law. Please consult the Student Affairs Section of SOKENDAI
for further details.

7. Application Procedure[Application Period]First Round(April 2025 Admission)

June 13 to 26, 2024, 5:00 pm JST*

Second RoundNovember 21 to December 4, 2024, 5:00 pm JST*
(October 2025 Admission)*The application must arrive no later than the last day of the application period, without failure.
[Contact the prospective supervisor]
Before applying, the applicant must contact the prospective supervisor and confirm whether
he/she can accept the applicant if the applicant passes the examination.
[Application Method]The applicant must submit a complete set of application documents either by mail or email. For
details, please confirm the following points 1) and 2). The application must reach SOKENDAI nolater than the application deadline of June 26, 2024 at 5:00 pm JST (First Round) or December
4, 2024 at 5:00 pm JST (Second Round).
1)

Mail

The complete set of application documents must be submitted by registered express mail or asimilar service. If there are any problems with the submitted documents, SOKENDAI will contact
the applicant via email.
Mailing address;
Student Affairs Section, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI
Shonan Village, Hayama, Miura, Kanagawa 240-0193 JAPAN
Telephone number +81-46-858-1526
2)

EmailThe complete set of application documents must be submitted via email. If the attached files
contain more than 10 megabytes, please send them separately, and number each email subject.
Additionally, when sending files, please attach them to your email directly without usinguploaders.
After receiving the applicant’s email, SOKENDAI will send the applicant a confirmation email. Ifthe applicant does not receive our email within a week of submitting the documents, pleasecontact us.
Email address; gakusei@ml.soken.ac.jp (Student Affairs Section, SOKENDAI)
Notes: If the applicant is accepted for enrollment, the applicant must submit the original officialtranscript and certification of graduation.

8. Application Documents
Please read “Application checklist” on our website.
1)

Application Form (Attached)

Please attach a photograph (sized 4.5 cm×3.5 cm taken within the past six months, upper
body, full-faced with no hat) on the Application Form. Your signature is required on theApplication Form.
2)

Official Transcripts
Applicants applying for the three-year doctoral program must submit the Official
Transcripts of each academic year from both undergraduate and graduate schools.

Applicants applying for the five-year doctoral program must submit the Official
Transcripts of each academic year from their undergraduate school.

3)

Certificate of Graduation or Expected Graduation (originals or certified copies)
Applicants applying for the three-year doctoral program must submit Certificates ofGraduation for both undergraduate and graduate schools.

Applicants applying for the five-year doctoral program must submit a Certificate ofGraduation for undergraduate school.

Applicants who have not yet graduated from a university must submit an attested
document certifying that the applicant will graduate before entering the doctoralprogram.

4)

Certified copy of degree diploma
Applicants who have already graduated from a university must submit certified copies ofdegree diplomas, as follows:Applicants applying for the three-year doctoral program must submit certified copiesof their bachelor’s and master’s degree diplomas.

Applicants applying for the five-year doctoral program must submit a certified copy of
their bachelor’s degree diploma.

5)

Recommendation letter from a person who knows the applicant’s research/academic

activities well (e.g., the applicant’s academic supervisor at the university in which theapplicant is currently enrolled or the university that the applicant previously attended).
addressed to the President of SOKENDAI. (Original, free format)
6)Your past research work and activities (if applicable)

7)

Summary of your graduation thesis
If the applicant has no theses or publications, please submit a summary of his/hercurrent research project.

8)

Field of Study and Research Plan (Attached)

9)

Photocopy of the applicant’s passport pages showing the applicant’s name, date of birth,
nationality, gender, photograph, and passport number.

10) Proof of English Skill (also see Note in below)
Only TOEFL or TOEIC scores taken within the past five years, or IELTS score taken within
the past two years are acceptable. Submit one of the following:- TOEFL: “Official Score Report” or “Test Taker Score Report (Examinee Score Report)”(a copy may be submitted)- TOEIC: “Official Score Certificate” or “TOEIC Listening & Reading Official ScoreCertificate” (a copy will not be accepted)- IELTS: “Academic Module Test Report Form” (a copy will not be accepted)* TOEFL ID code for SOKENDAI is: 7564.
* Group tests (TOEFL-ITP test and TOEIC-IP test) are not applicable.
* The IELTS General Training Module test is not applicable.
Notes:
The application documents must be prepared in Japanese or English. If the documents areprepared in languages other than Japanese or English, an official English translation must
be included.

The application documents mentioned above must be prepared using word processing
software. Print all the required documents on A4 size paper (if possible).

Your admission may be rescinded at any time, even after enrollment, if the application
documents are found to be invalid or contain false information.

If the applicant is a native English speaker or has earned either a Bachelor's degree or aMaster's degree (whose course must be a program for two years or longer) from an
institution in which English was the primary institutional language of instruction, submissionof Proof of English skill is optional. In that case, the applicant may be asked to submit
additional documents which prove that the applicant satisfies the above condition.

9. Selection Schedule and Method

[Schedule]First Round

August 21, 2024 (scheduled)

Online interview andSecond Round
January 20, 2025 (scheduled)*Interview dates are subject to change.

document screening*The selection method may change depending on the spread of novel coronavirus.

[Preliminary consultation]
Make sure that applicants have to contact a faculty member of the Program whom the applicant
would like to study under before preparing the application documents.
Please note that if the supervisor you request is unable to accept you and there is no othersuitable supervisor available, you will be rejected in the admission selection process.
List of Faculty: https://www.nii.ac.jp/graduate/en/about/advisor/[Important notes concerning interviews]

Three-year doctoral program
The academic test for admission screening will be conducted by interview. Theinterview will take 40 minutes. It will consist of a presentation by the applicant and aquestion-and-answer session regarding the presentation, as well as a question-andanswer session regarding general matters related to technical knowledge and thecontents of the submitted documents.
Your presentation should be no more than 20 minutes in length and should include a
description of the research that you have conducted thus far* and the research thatyou would like to conduct in the program. Prepare materials in English for one research
topic (for a presentation of at least 5 minutes) and present them in English. A questionand-answer session will be held in English concerning your presentation in English.
You must submit your presentation materials in advance. The due date, which will be
about one week prior to the interview day, will be specified at a later date.
Please prepare your materials in PowerPoint or PDF format with a maximum of 20
pages (slides).
*Research you conducted for the preparation of your Master’s thesis or similar
research you hav e conducted recently.

Five-year doctoral program
The academic test for admission screening will be conducted by interview. Theinterview will take 40 minutes. It will consist of a presentation by the applicant and aquestion-and-answer session regarding the presentation, as well as a question-andanswer session regarding general matters related to basic technical knowledge andthe contents of the submitted documents.
Your presentation must present your research plan after admission. In addition, youwill be asked to choose an appropriate theme and discuss it for no more than 10minutes. Examples of themes include the content of research you have conductedthus far, a recent academic paper or lecture that left a deep impression on you, thecontent of your Statement of Purpose, and the reason why you want to study in theInformatics Program.
You must submit your presentation materials in advance. The due date, which will be
about one week prior to the interview day, will be specified at a later date. Please
prepare your materials in PowerPoint or PDF format with a maximum of 10 pages(slides).
[“Criteria for grading, evaluation” and “admission decision”]
Your submitted documents and the results of your interview will be comprehensively evaluatedto determine the acceptability of your application. Particular attention will be given to the following:Three-year doctoral program・ Willingness to engage in research・ Possession of a vigorous and flexible spirit of inquiry
・ Possession of an independent outlook with respect to research・ Possession of sufficient ability to carry out research based on past researchachievements
・ Possession of the basic academic skills and language ability necessary to carry outresearchFive-year doctoral program
・Willingness to engage in research・ Degree of awareness of the issues involved in research (theme-specific andingeneral)
・Possession of the basic academic skills necessary to carry out research・Possession of the communication skills necessary to carry out research

10. Announcement of Result
First round: The result will be announced to all applicants in September 2024 via email.
Second round: The result will be announced to all applicants in February 2025 via email.

11. Admission Procedures

(1) The period of admission procedures is scheduled as follows:
The middle of March 2025 for the enrollment of April 2025
Late September 2025 for the enrollment of October 2025
Successful applicants must complete the admission procedures during the prescribed period.
Further details will be provided separately to successful applicants.
(2) Fees required for admission are as follows:
Entrance Fee: JPY 282,000
Tuition Fee for six months: JPY 267,900*If entrance or tuition fees are revised at the time of or during enrollment, the revised fees
shall be applied from the date of the revision.

12. Student Visa
Each candidate who is selected as a privately financed student must apply for a visa in personat the nearest Japanese consulate to enter Japan after receiving the Certificate of Eligibility
which is mailed from SOKENDAI.

13. Contact Details for Inquiries
Student Affairs Section, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI
E-mail: gakusei@ml.soken.ac.jp