Updated on July 11, 2024

Program in Economic and Public Policy (PEPP)(ADB-WB Scholarship admission application instructions)
University of Tsukuba
Before starting the application process, please ensure that you fulfill all the eligibility criteria.

Then read the following instructions carefully and start the application process via our Online

Application System (OAS).

A completed application should be submitted via the OAS by 23:59 Nov 15,2024 (Japan Time).
You will need to register an appropriate email address for accessing the OAS. Once you register,we will send an email to this registered address. This email will contain a link to start theapplication process.

NOTE: After registering an address, if you do not receive an email within 10 minutes, check yourspam or junk mail folder. If, after searching in your spam or junk mail folder, you still cannot

find our mail, please register using another email address. Hotmail and live mail servers inparticular may consider our email as undeliverable spam-mail.

The OAS Application Process
The application process consists of the following three main tasks (I~III), completed by step (IV),submission.
I)

Filling in the “Application Form” composed of five tabs

II) Preparing and uploading required documents

III) Arranging at least three and up to four letters of recommendationIV) Submitting the application

Note that:--All application materials should be written in English. In case the documents you submit

were originally issued in another language(s), please ensure you attach officialtranslations in English.

All documents to be submitted should contain your name (the name of the applicant) toenable us to ensure the documents correspond to you.

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-Documents sent by fax or e-mail will NOT be accepted.

I) Filling in the “Application Form” composed of five tabs

Carefully fill in all the required fields on each of the five tabs (1) according to the instructions.

If an error message appears in red, please go back to that field and modify it until the error
message disappears. Up until the deadline, you can log-in and log-out during the application

process as many times as required. Before logging out, please remember to use the "SAVE"
button on each page, otherwise any changes you have made will be lost.
(1)

The five tabs are: Personal Data, Professional Background, Educational Background,
Personal Statement, and Research Plan.

II) Preparing and uploading required documents

Please find below a list of required documents. You can download blank versions ofdocuments that must be submitted in a set format (indicated by an asterisk* below) from the‘Required Documents’ section of the OAS. Other documents may be prepared in your own

format.

(1)(2)

Transcript(s) - see (2)Diploma(s)Applicant must provide proof of a four-year bachelor’s degree and of academicperformance.

Official transcripts from all institutions of higher education attended aswell as certified copies of diplomas obtained are required.

These documents mustbear institutional seals and must be certified as true copies of the original documents.
Uncertified photocopies are not acceptable. Documents issued in languages other than(3)English must be accompanied by a certified translation into English.
Other Diplomas/Certificates (High School, Further Education etc.)

Applicants who have obtained additional qualifications other than a bachelor’s degree

must provide copies of the diploma(s), certificate(s), and transcript(s) related to such

(4)

qualifications (if applicable).
Curriculum Vitae

Outline clearly and concisely the following points: (a) academic honors including thescholarships/fellowships you have been awarded; (b) positions you have held, inparticular the experience you have gained in economic/public policy making; (c) any

writings you have published or examples of other ways you have publicized your work,
including newspaper articles and radio and television broadcasts; (d) public andcommunity services, including politically-related activities; (e) foreign language skills;and (f) any foreign travel undertaken.

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(5)

TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC, Cambridge Assessment (or other standardized English test score),or equivalent proof of English proficiency such as a document by an academic adviser
or a director in your current workplace:

A TOEFL score of 600, TOEFL iBT score of 100 or higher is preferred for admission.

If taking these exams proves unfeasible, equivalent proof of skills may be acceptable in

the form of one of the following: 1) an alternative standardized test score (IELTs, TOEICetc. – for test score comparisons see: https://www.ets.org/toefl/score-users/scores-admissions/compare/); 2) a certificate issued by a relevant institution, current orformer professor/academic adviser of the candidate; or 3) a letter issued by a director

in the current workplace of the candidate. The Program, however, reserves the right tojudge the suitability of material submitted as ‘equivalent proof of skills’, and may(6)request further documentation.
Medical Certificate *:This certificate should be issued by a medical institution to attest you are healthy
enough to study abroad. It should contain a date of issue, which should be within threemonths of your PEPP application submission date. Your doctor should use the(7)(8)

designated form that can be downloaded from the OAS.
Photograph (40 mm×30 mm)

JJ/WBGSP applicants only: Statement of Eligibility *(9) ADB-JSP applicants only: ADB-JSP Information Sheet *:(10) ADB-JSP applicants only: Your Income Certificate (either your latest tax return or
certification of your annual/monthly salary)

ADB-JSP applicants only: Your Family’s Income Certificate (certification of family
income - parents' income if single; and spouse’s income if married)(11) Optional: Certificate of Research Activities, if any*.

Note: Applicants who have completed university studies in a country where formal

schooling lasts less than 16 years (not including years of graduate studies) are required
to submit this form and need thereby to demonstrate at least one year of research

activity. Other applicants who have research experience may also use this form tosubmit details of research experience.

(12) Optional: Publications, if any (Note: a graduation thesis is not acceptable)(13) Letters of Recommendation: See III)

III) Arranging three to four letters of recommendation

Number of letters: To apply to PEPP, three or four letters of recommendation are

required. If you arrange for four letters, we advise you to get two of them from persons
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professional experience. If you prepare three letters, you need to obtain at least one froma person who can testify to your academic work, one from a person who can testify toyour professional experience, and the remaining one from a person for either academic orprofessional work.

How to submit: Letters should be submitted via the OAS by recommenders (see 1 belowfor details). Applicants whose recommenders have difficulty in submitting their lettersthrough the OAS, however, may instead send them directly to the PEPP office via
traditional post (see 2 below for details).

(1) Submission via the OASi)

Fill in each recommender’s details in the ‘Recommender’s Information’ section.

iii)

Click on the ‘Send a Request to Recommender X’ button (this will open a pageii)

iv)v)
vi)

Click ‘SAVE’ (below).

detailing the email that will be sent directly to your recommender withinstructions on how to proceed).

Click on the ‘Send a Request’ button at the bottom of this next page too (Themessage: ‘The request has been successfully sent to the recommender’ willappear).

Check with your recommender(s) to confirm they have received an email request
with instructions.

If your recommender has received the email but does not upload a letter withina reasonable time frame, click on the ‘Send a Reminder to Recommender X’button below the recommender’s details (this will appear after the first request

has been sent) and follow the steps to resend the email request as a reminder.

NOTE 1: The email address of your recommender must be an official email

address. Official email addresses of Tsukuba University, for example, end in‘tsukuba.ac.jp’. Addresses will be checked for authenticity.

NOTE 2: Please check with your recommenders to confirm they have received

their email request. If they have not received an email request after 10 minutes,

please ask them to check their spam or junk mail folders. As indicated above, it

may be that our emails have been automatically registered as spam or junk mail.

If, after searching in their spam or junk mail folder, your recommender is still

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unable to find the mail, please ask them for an alternative official email address

to use instead. If you change the recommender’s email address, please be sure to“SAVE” the changes first on the system, before clicking the “Send a Reminder tovii)viii)

Recommender X” button again.

When a recommender has finished uploading her/his letter of recommendation,

the OAS will notify you about this in the ‘Current Status’ section below.

Until a recommender uploads his/her letter of recommendation, you may change

and save a recommender’s details at any point (as long as you have not submitted
your application). Note if you change the email details you must click the “Send aReminder to Recommender X” button again in order to send a request to the newsaved email address. This applies also if you decide to save an alternative

recommender’s details instead.
(2) By traditional post:i)ii)

Fill in each recommender’s details in the ‘Recommender’s Information’ section.
Click ‘SAVE’ (below).

iii) Click on the ‘Send a Request to Recommender X’ button.

iv) Click on the ‘Send a Request’ button at the bottom of this next page too (Themessage: ‘The request has been successfully sent to the recommender’ will appear)

NOTE: You will not be able to submit your application without doing this even ifv)

you ask your recommender to send a letter by traditional post.

Download the Letter of Recommendation form from the “Required Documents”

page on the OAS and email this to your recommender together with the addressbelow.

vi) Ask your recommender to print the form, fill it in and dispatch it in a sealed
envelope to:

The PEPP Committee, Master’s Program in International Public Policy, Graduate

School of Business Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba,
1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571 JAPANThe letters must arrive at the University directly from your recommender,
unopened, by the deadline.

IV) Submitting application-Once you finish steps I) to III), click the "SUBMIT” button on the left of the screen.

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-If any error messages in red appear, please check the error as indicated and make anynecessary corrections. If there is no error message, the "Final Submit" button will appear,

to indicate your application is ready for submission. Click the “Final Submit” button tocomplete the application process.

NOTE: Changes cannot be made after clicking “Final Submit”. Your application statuswill be changed to “Read Only”. You will still be able to view your application, but you

will not be able to alter any information. For this reason it is highly recommended thatyou review the information you have filled in and provided before clicking “Final Submit”.

After submitting the OAS application-If you have successfully passed the first screening, you will be notified. Following this,you will be asked to send original or certified true copies of the following documents bytraditional post: Transcripts, Diplomas, Certificate of Higher Education and MedicalCertificate. Failure to do so will result in disqualification of your application.

NOTE: The PEPP Office will not return any original documents sent fromapplicants who have not been contacted by the office.

-On the basis of the first screening, applicants will be invited to a Zoom interview.
Academic screening will be finalized late Jan 2025. Academically successful applicants
will be notified on how to proceed with their scholarship application. ADB candidates’

details will be submitted directly to ADB by the PEPP office; and World Bank candidates

will be provided with required evidence and invited to apply directly to JJWBGSP’s 1stApplication Window (Note 1: the university cannot answer any questions about thisprocess; Note 2: until this process is complete, your application to the World Bank will

not be accepted). Academically successful candidates who have been awarded a-scholarship will be notified at the end of April 2025 when all official final results will beannounced.

We cannot respond to inquiries about the status of submitted applications. For moredetails about the selection schedule itself, please refer to the “Application process andschedule from application to enrollment” page on our website.
If you have further questions, please contact:
E-mail: pepp_app@un.tsukuba.ac.jp

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