Course Overview

Established in 2014, the Foundation Course for Post Graduate Studies (known as “Pre-Master Course) is for international students intending to apply for a graduate program at Okayama University. The Pre-Master Course supports the progress of international students to graduate school as well as guidance for the academic Japanese proficiency that will be necessary in graduate school research.

This course has so far accepted about 280 international students from countries such as Italy, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Taiwan, and China. About 86%(as of AY 2022) of them have gone on to graduate school at our university.
The curriculum is focused on advanced Japanese language skills for thesis reading comprehension, thesis writing, developing the ability to understand lectures, presentation and communication skills, and developing oral expression ability for interviews. Graduates of the Pre-Master Course can immediately begin their research activities in graduate school.

As well as having the Basic Class for those with N2/N1 level, there is the Advanced Class for gaining further advanced academic Japanese proficiency.

Admission and Enrolment Period

Admission Period April or October
Enrolment Period Six Months (can be extended up to one year and six months in some cases)

Eligibility

Applicants are eligible to apply if:

  1. They are not Japanese nationals
  2. In the case of those who have graduated from a Japanese university, they have completed 16 years of school education in a foreign country or they have more than 3 years of a bachelor’s degree program and receive the degree equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in a foreign country
  3. Japanese language proficiency
    Those who have passed N2 or N1
  4. Those who have received informal acceptance of the course application by faculty at the Okayama University Graduate School, and consent to being the host faculty for the graduate school entrance examination after enrolling in the course
  5. Those who have a recommendation by a faculty member from their university (it is also possible to receive a recommendation from an Okayama University International Alumni Association Branch Director or Okayama University faculty (excluding the faculty who accepted the application))

※For more details, please refer to the application guidelines（in Japanese）