Graduate School of Law, Tohoku University 2011
Application Requirements for the Doctoral Programme (October)（Cross-National Doctoral Course）
The Graduate School of Law at Tohoku University has collaborated with Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon(ENS-Lyon),
University Lumière Lyon 2, University of Sheffield’s School of East Asian Studies, the Political Science Department at Tsinghua
University, the School of Law at Tsinghua University, the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS), theInstitute of Political Science at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS),Graduate School of Yonsei University, Department ofPolitical Science, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University (GSIS ), the Faculty of Law at the Universityof Ottawa, and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa (“Overseas Partner Institutions”) and decided to offer aCross-National Doctoral Course in fields related to law and political science.

Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Law calls for applicants satisfying the following eligibility requirements to join
the Graduate School of Law’s doctoral programme (Cross-National Doctoral Course) as PhD students from October 1, 2011.
1. Number of Students to be Acceptedaround 5 in total
2. Eligibility
Applicants must satisfy all of the following requirements(1) Those who are registered, or are expected to register, as PhD students at one of the Overseas Partner Institutions byOctober, 2011.
(2) Those who have passed the preliminary requirements set forth by the Overseas Partner Institutions at which he or she
is registered, or plan to register (“Home Institution”), and are agreed as candidates for making application to the Graduate
School of Law, Tohoku University.
* As to (2), please make inquiries regarding the preliminary requirements to the person incharge at each Home Institution
3. Application Period
21 January (Fri) – 7February (Mon), 2011
Applications sent by post will be accepted during the above application period.
Applications hand-delivered directly to the School of Law’s Office will be accepted during the hours between
9:00 to 12:45 and 13:45 to 16:45.

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4. Application Procedure
Applicants should prepare and submit the following documents:
1) Application for Admission / CV (form prepared by the School of Law). The form can be downloaded from thefollowing website:
http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/admissions/graduate/
2) MA thesis or other appropriate piece of written work (1 copy)*Please refer to *1)
3) List of past research and publications (format optional, on A4 paper)
The list must be written in English or Japanese.
4) Research proposal (1 copy)
The research proposal should be a minimum of 500 words and no more than 2000 words on A4 paper(for English proposals)
The research proposal should be a minimum of 1200 characters and no more than 4000 characters on A4paper (for Japanese proposals)*Please refer to *2)5) Student Registration Certificate (or certificate of expected registration) from a Home Institution
The certificate must be written in English or Japanese.
6) Recommendation letter from the student’s supervisor or prospective supervisor at one of the Home Institutions
The letter must be written in English or Japanese.
7) Certificate of MA degree (or certificate of expected MA degree)
The certificate must be written in English or Japanese.
8) Certificate of Alien Registration for those resident in Japan
Foreigners residing in Japan who wish to enrol in the Programme must submit the official Certificate
issued by a local municipal office (this excludes those staying in Japan for less than 90 days).
9) Mailing label
Label provided by the School of Law (EMS label or address label)*This label will be used to send applicants their notification of results along with registration forms. If theapplicant’s address is in Japan, the address label should be used. If the applicant’s address is outside ofJapan, the EMS label should be used. (Applicant should enter his/her name, address and phone numberin the label’s destination box).
Should an applicant change addresses after applying to the Programme, the applicant should notify theSchool of Law’s Office of Educational Affairs Section immediately.
*1) If the MA thesis or other written work to be submitted as Document 2) is written in a language otherthan English or Japanese, the full paper in the original language must be accompanied by an abstract (lengthand format optional) written in either English or Japanese.
*2) The research proposal for Document 4) must be written in English or Japanese, and should cover theentirety of research to be conducted for the completion of the degree, but should also indicate the work to beconducted during the one year at the Graduate School of Law, Tohoku University.
*3) Applicants with special needs in taking the entrance examination or completing the course of study
should contact the School of Law’s Office of Educational Affairs Section. Applicants will not be
discriminated based on such inquiries made to the School of Law.

Inquiries should be made by 4 February, 2011 (Fri).
-2-5. Selection Process
Selection will be determined by the following two criteria.
(1) Screening by a Selection Committee based on the submitted documents(2) Interview* Each applicant will be informed of the time and place of the (2) Interview.
6. Notification of Results
Notification of Results: 22 April (Fri), 2011
All applicants will be notified of the selection results by post. The results will also be posted on the website of theSchool of Law (http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/english/) (around 11 am).
Pease note that notices of results will be sent on 22 April, 2011 and it will take some days for delivery.
7. Status and Research Activities as Registered Students of Tohoku’s Graduate School of Law(1) Graduate students accepted to the Cross-National Doctoral Course will become registered doctoral programme
students of the Graduate School of Law at Tohoku University and their Home Institution. While registered atTohoku’s Graduate School of Law, students are required to spend a minimum of one academic year at theinstitution and to conduct research during that time.
(2) Graduate students in the Cross-National Doctoral Course will submit their dissertations to the Graduate Schoolof Law at Tohoku and their Home Institution. By successfully defending their dissertations, students will receive ajoint doctoral degree from the two institutions. The awarding of a doctoral degree from Tohoku’s Graduate Schoolof Law will be in accordance with the Graduate School of Law’s regulations.
(3) Graduate students in the Cross-National Doctoral Course will conduct research under the joint supervision ofsupervisors from Tohoku’s Graduate School of Law and their overseas home institution from the time of enrolment
at Tohoku until they receive their doctoral degrees.
8. Expenses and Financial Support for Research(1) Students applying to and enrolling in the Cross-National Doctoral Course will be exempt from the admission,
matriculation, and tuition fees of Tohoku University.
(2) Travel fees to Japan, living expenses including utilities and rent, insurance, and other expenses will be thestudent’s responsibility.
(3) Those who are in the Cross-National Doctoral Course and conduct research on a topic relevant to the Tohoku
University based Global COE programme “Gender Equality and Multicultural Conviviality in the Age ofGlobalization” (for the brief information please refer to http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/gcoe/english) will be
employed as Global COE Research Assistants or Global COE Fellows for one academic year from October 2011.
By assisting at research workshops and with tasks such as translation, Research Assistants could receive a monthly
stipend of around 160,000 yen. Additionally, students employed as Global COE Research Assistants or Global
COE Fellows may be eligible for an annual research grant of 100,000 yen to facilitate their research activities.

-3-9. Additional Information(1) Applications sent by post should be sent by registered mail with “School of Law Application (Cross-National
Doctoral Course)” written in red, to:School of Law, Tohoku University27-1 Kawauchi, Aoba
Sendai, Miyagi
Japan 980-8576(2) Those with inquiries regarding the application process or with requests for application materials should enclose astamped and self-addressed envelope.
(3) Changes cannot be made to documents once submitted.
(4) Submitted documents will not be returned.
(5) Regarding personal information
1) Personal information gathered for the application procedure will not be used for purposes other than
the selection process, registration formalities and student support after enrolment.
2) All personal information collected for the application process will be held in strictest confidence.
Tohoku University will follow all applicable laws, will respect the legal requirements that exist regarding
the privacy of personal information, and will not share information with third parties without theindividual’s consent.

January 2011
School of Law, Tohoku University27-1 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku,Sendai, Miyagi 980-8576
Japan
Fax+81-(0)22-795-6249
Email law-kyom@bureau.tohoku.ac.jp-4-