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 230 international students from countries such as Italy, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Taiwan, and China. About 77% 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 Start-up Class for those with Japanese ability equivalent to N3/N2 level and the Basic Class for those with N2/N1 level, there is the Advanced Class for gaining further advanced academic Japanese proficiency, and the Disciplinary Class that focuses on research activities in graduate school.
Admission and Enrolment Period
| Admission Period | April or October |
|---|---|
| Enrolment Period | Six Months (can be extended up to two years in some cases) |
Eligibility
Applicants are eligible to apply if:
- They are not Japanese nationals
- 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
- Japanese language proficiency
– For the Start-up Class, they have passed N3 (120 points or more) or N2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or Japanese proficiency equivalent to these levels;
– for the Basic Class, those who have passed N2 or N1 - 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
- 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）
