African Business Education Initiative in Japan for Young Africans (1000 Master’s and Internship Scholarship Awards)

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Master's Degree and Internship Program of the African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative)

Course(s) Offered: All study fields
Course Level: Masters + Internship
Provider: ABE Initiative
Country to Study in: Japan

Scholarship Description
The “African Business Education Initiative for Youth (or the “ABE Initiative”), is a strategic five-year plan providing 1,000 youths in Africa with opportunities to study at Japanese universities as well as do internships at Japanese enterprises. The plan selects participants who arrive Japan each year from 2014 to 2018.

The ABE Initiative master’s degree and internship program is to support young personnel who have potential to contribute to development of industries in Africa. It offers opportunities for young African men and women to study master’s courses in Japanese universities as international students and experience internships at Japanese enterprises. The is for them to develop effective skills so as to contribute to various fields.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been appointed to implement a master’s degree and internship program within the ABE initiative framework developed for countries whose official requests have been approved by the Government of Japan.

Eligibility
Eligible applicants must be: 

1. Citizens of one of the 54 African countries
2. Between 22 and 39 years old (as of April 1st in the year of you arrival in Japan)
3. A bachelor’s degree
4. Applicants from government sectors/ educators who have both of the following:
   -At least 6 months working experience at their current organization -Permission from their current organization to apply
5. Have adequate English proficiency, both in written and oral communication (IELTS score of over 5.5 is preferred)
6. Clearly understand the objective of this program and have a strong will to contribute to the industrial development of their country while broadening and strengthening the linkage between their country and Japan
7. Not currently applying or planning to apply to scholarship programs offered by other organizations
8. Have good health condition, both physically and mentally, to complete the program

Target Participants:
Target participants are from among the following three types of personnel.

1. Persons from the Private Sector: Young individuals who are or will be involved in economic activities in the local private sector maintaining and developing strong ties with Japanese companies.
2. Governmental Officials: Young officials, such as civil servants, who take part in governance and policy-making in order to enhance industries to whose development Japanese companies can contribute, and has a recommendation by a Japanese company.
3. Educators: Young individuals who are responsible for educating in Higher Education and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) institutions in Africa, in order to enhance capacity building in related industries, and has a recommendation by a Japanese company.

Eligible groups
Citizens of African countries

Participating Institutions
Accredited Japanese universities; and
Japanese businesses, enterprises and corporations

Fields of study
Participants will be accepted in any field of study for master’s courses at Japanese universities while engineering, agriculture and economics/business administration are specified as key fields. Proposed research topics must be relevant to the program objectives to form network of potential contributors to the development of African industries, who have strong ties with Japanese companies. 

A full list of eligible disciplines and/or research fields can be found on the official webpage (link is below)

Number of awards
Participants will be selected and dispatched to Japan in 4 batches and the number of participants for each batch is planned as follows.

• 1st batch (arrived in 2014): 156 participants from 9 countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania)
• 2nd batch (arrived in 2015): 317 participants from 54 African countries
• 3rd batch (arrived in 2016): 348 participants from 54 African countries
• 4th batch (will arrive in 2017): 250 participants from 54 African countries
• 5th batch (will arrive in 2018): 200 participants from 54 African countries (planned)

Sponsorship duration
It is expected that the duration of stay in Japan will be a maximum of 3 years -- 6 months as a research student, 2 years as a student for master course and 6 months as an intern

Scholarship benefits
JICA will provide the following expenses for participant of the program which is equivalent to similar JICA schemes:

• Tuition at Japanese university master’s degree programs (and research student)
• Allowances for living expenses, outfit, shipping etc.
• A round-trip airfare
• Expenses for support programs during the study in Japan, including the costs of observation tours and internship
• Other costs should be covered by the participants’ organizations or other individuals.

Participants are not allowed to work while their stay in Japan.

Method of Application
You will need to read the "Guideline for Application Form" before commencing your application. It is important to visit the official scholarship webpage (link to it is below) for complete information on how to to apply for this scholarship/internship program.

DEADLINES:
Application period for 2018 batch is between August 2017 to 28th October 2017

PLEASE NOTE:
At the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), held in Yokohama in 2013, Japan's Government stated its policy of promoting support for the ongoing dynamic growth of Africa with stronger public-private partnerships. At that meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Abe announced the "African Business Education Initiative for Youth (or the "ABE Initiative"), a strategic five-year plan providing 1,000 youths in Africa with opportunities to study at Japanese universities as well as do internships at Japanese enterprises.

Beyond acquisition of skills and knowledge, this program also intends to cultivate excellent personnel who can recognize and understand the contexts of Japanese society and systems of Japanese enterprises. The expected outcome of the program is a network of potential contributors to the development of African industries who will also lead Japanese businesses to engage further in economic activities in Africa.

Application Deadline: 28 October 2017
Open to International Applicants: No (ONLY Africans)

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