Table of Contents

For Prospective International Graduate Students

This page is for prospective graduate students who are currently outside Kansai University and are interested in joining Sasabe Lab (Graduate School of Informatics) as a Master's or Ph.D. student. It assumes that you already have a basic grounding in how to carry out research (literature review, formulating a problem, experimentation/analysis, writing up results), so this page focuses on admission requirements and how to get in touch, rather than repeating research training content.

For an overview of our research themes, please see the Research page, and for my background, see the profile on the top page.

If you have questions after reading this page, please contact me by email at sasabe[at]kansai-u.ac.jp.

Admission Requirements

The information below is a summary, based on the Kansai University Guide Book for International Students (PDF), of the eligibility conditions that generally apply to the Graduate School of Informatics. Admission requirements, the application schedule, required documents, application fees, and available scholarships are revised every year, so please always check the latest official information rather than relying solely on this page: the Kansai University Graduate School international admissions page (in Japanese) and the Kansai University Guide Book for International Students (PDF).

General Eligibility (University-wide, Master's Degree Program)

To apply for the Master's Degree Program as an international student, you must satisfy one of the following conditions: (1) completed, or are expected to complete, 16 years of regular schooling outside Japan; (2) graduated, or are expected to graduate, from a Japanese university as an international student; (3) completed a degree program of 3 years or more at an overseas university or school recognized as equivalent to a bachelor's degree under the relevant MEXT ordinance; (4) completed a specialized course at a Japanese training school for international students that meets MEXT's designated conditions, including a minimum course length of four years; or (5) been individually screened by the Graduate School and recognized as having scholastic ability equivalent or superior to a university graduate.

General Eligibility (University-wide, Ph.D. Degree Program)

To apply for the Ph.D. Degree Program as an international student, you must satisfy one of the following conditions: (1) obtained, or are expected to obtain, a master's degree or an equivalent professional degree from a graduate school overseas; (2) obtained, or are expected to obtain, a master's degree or an equivalent professional degree from a Japanese graduate school as an international student; (3) completed the course of the United Nations University under the relevant UN General Assembly resolution and Act on Special Measures; (4) been designated by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Notification No. 118, 1989); or (5) been individually recognized by the Graduate School as having scholastic ability equal to or higher than a master's degree holder and will be at least 24 years old before enrollment (this age requirement does not apply to applicants who received their regular schooling in Japan).

Japanese Language Proficiency (Graduate School of Informatics)

In addition to the general eligibility above, the Graduate School of Informatics requires a Japanese language proficiency of JLPT N1, or a score of 270 or higher on the "Japanese as a Foreign Language" section (including the writing task) of the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU), for both the Master's and Ph.D. Degree Programs. This specific requirement applies to applicants qualifying under eligibility conditions (1), (3), or (5) above for the Master's Degree Program, or (1), (4), or (5) above for the Ph.D. Degree Program; if you qualify under a different condition, please confirm the applicable requirement directly with the Graduate School.

Before You Contact Me

According to Kansai University's admission process, applicants are expected to directly contact their desired academic supervisor before applying; the Graduate School office does not search for a supervisor on an applicant's behalf. Please follow the steps below before reaching out.

  1. Confirm that you satisfy the Japanese language proficiency requirement (and the general eligibility conditions) described above.
  2. Read through the Research page and think about how the research theme you would like to pursue relates to my areas of expertise.
  3. Email me at sasabe[at]kansai-u.ac.jp with (a) a brief statement of your intended research theme and how it connects to my research, and (b) your CV and academic transcripts.

Please note that being accepted for a pre-application discussion does not guarantee admission; you will still need to satisfy all university-wide and Graduate School of Informatics admission requirements and pass the entrance examination.