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MEXT MBA degree

haruki

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1 Dec 2016
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Hello! I am new to this forum. Currently, I am a senior student majoring in Asian & International Studies.I have several questions regarding the MEXT scholarship.

1. Is it necessary for me to become a research student first before applying for an MBA degree?
I have read a lot of documents and threads here but I am still confused. Can I directly admit to a master's degree?

2.As my major is Asian & International Studies now, can I choose to study programs related to business administration?
There is a document which states that the program that I am going to apply must be related to my undergraduate study. I am also going to take Marketing as my minor so I am wondering if I can study a different field in the future.

3.Should I apply through university recommendation or embassy recommendation?
My home university has student exchange agreement with Keio and Waseda Uni. I have been learning Japanese and I guess I will be able to get N2/N3 before I go to Japan.

Actually, I still have two and a half year before I graduate from my home university but I am always interested in studying in Japan so I would like to gather information now and be well-prepared. Thanks a lot!

Yours sincerely,
Haruki
 
Hello! I am new to this forum. Currently, I am a senior student majoring in Asian & International Studies.I have several questions regarding the MEXT scholarship.

1. Is it necessary for me to become a research student first before applying for an MBA degree?
I have read a lot of documents and threads here but I am still confused. Can I directly admit to a master's degree?

2.As my major is Asian & International Studies now, can I choose to study programs related to business administration?
There is a document which states that the program that I am going to apply must be related to my undergraduate study. I am also going to take Marketing as my minor so I am wondering if I can study a different field in the future.

3.Should I apply through university recommendation or embassy recommendation?
My home university has student exchange agreement with Keio and Waseda Uni. I have been learning Japanese and I guess I will be able to get N2/N3 before I go to Japan.

Actually, I still have two and a half year before I graduate from my home university but I am always interested in studying in Japan so I would like to gather information now and be well-prepared. Thanks a lot!

Yours sincerely,
Haruki
Hello Haruki, I'm gonna be brief with my answers because I'm at work right now :p

1. you can be accepted as a Master student from the start but it is risky, you can choose three universities and MEXT decides in which one you are goig to study, if you do the tests, interviews and pay the exams fees for your first option but you end placed on your second or third option you would have lost time and money.

2. I guess you can but you have to demonstrate how your studies relate to your business studies, for example, I am an electrical engineer and I am going to do an MBA in Waseda thanks to the MEXT scolarship, but I had to demonstrate to my embassy that my professional carrer has been focused on project management of electrical projects, so an MBA really helps me a lot, I can not stress enough to be very clear on this part, the embassy almost didn't give me the Scholarship because they tought that electrical engineering and business studies are not related.

3. do both, if you fail the embassy one do the university recommendation then, I think It's easier through the embassy.
 
Sorry for the late reply, I also agre with all that @Kamiyan said.

I was accepted directly into the MBA program without research student period. Although in my case I don't think it was such a risk, since I was admitted to the program in the only National University I wrote and it was my #1 choice, the other two were private ones.

It is very important that in the Study Field form you clearly link your previous studies to the ones you want to do in Japan, that part is fundamental.
I'm a BA in Mass Communication and I've worked as a translator for high executives for over 10 years, so I had to explain how my precious experiences had led me to want to study the MBA and what benefits did it bring to my research proposal.

If your university has exchange programs with thos universities, I think it will be easier to go through the University path, but that would also depend on how good a relationship you can build with your desired advisor.
 
Hi Frida and Kamiyan

It's so rare to see MEXT scholars holding MBA degree here.
Since I search for MBA course in JP and consider MEXT scholarship too, I would like to ask you guy a question. Hope to have support from you.

So, I'm Vietnamese and I hold a bachelor degree in Marketing Management. As request from JP Embassy, research plan is mandatory for all postgraduate applicants. It must contain methodology, literature review, and students have to read papers from professors at the universities they choose for reference

However, for MBA program, research plan is unnecessary. Professors of this course do not own labs too. Some universities such as Waseda and Hitotsubashi even banned students to contact professors before application.
Therefore, research plan will be meaningless if I can not find anyone to supervise, as well as conduct it at graduate school.
Besides, I searched and did not see any professors having done similar research as my intended plan.

How did you build research plan for MBA course when applying for MEXT in your country? Thanks a lot and I hope to have feedback from you.
 
Hi Frida and Kamiyan

It's so rare to see MEXT scholars holding MBA degree here.
Since I search for MBA course in JP and consider MEXT scholarship too, I would like to ask you guy a question. Hope to have support from you.

So, I'm Vietnamese and I hold a bachelor degree in Marketing Management. As request from JP Embassy, research plan is mandatory for all postgraduate applicants. It must contain methodology, literature review, and students have to read papers from professors at the universities they choose for reference

However, for MBA program, research plan is unnecessary. Professors of this course do not own labs too. Some universities such as Waseda and Hitotsubashi even banned students to contact professors before application.
Therefore, research plan will be meaningless if I can not find anyone to supervise, as well as conduct it at graduate school.
Besides, I searched and did not see any professors having done similar research as my intended plan.

How did you build research plan for MBA course when applying for MEXT in your country? Thanks a lot and I hope to have feedback from you.

Hello chidori1404

Wow, talk about resurrecting a thread, haha!
You may want to study an MBA, but most Universities will accept you first as a Research Student and then you will be able to proceed to the MBA.
So you need a Research Proposal. Whether you carry it out or not after you come to Japan... Well, that's a different story.
So think of a topic for a research and develop it as if you were sure you would carry it out.

In my case, I went to Kyoto University and graduated in 2019. On the graduation requirements it said NO THESIS was needed, but the second year there is a "workshop" that last 2 semesters, and it was focused on research. On the first semester of the second year we had to present our research topic, hypothesis, methodology, etc. and on the second semester, for graduation, we had to present the findings, conclusions and do QA. And submit a written report of no less than 50 pages.
So... "no thesis"

I was so glad I had already done a lot of thinking on the topic for the MEXT application, and that really helped.

Another thing is... Think of 3 o 4 topics YOU are interested in, and then look for professors that share that interest to choose your Universities.
In case you do have to do research, it will be a thousand times more fun to do so on a topic YOU have interest in, instead of researching something that a professor has interest in and you are just stuck there because you have to adapt yourself to the professor.
 
Hello chidori1404

Wow, talk about resurrecting a thread, haha!
You may want to study an MBA, but most Universities will accept you first as a Research Student and then you will be able to proceed to the MBA.
So you need a Research Proposal. Whether you carry it out or not after you come to Japan... Well, that's a different story.
So think of a topic for a research and develop it as if you were sure you would carry it out.

In my case, I went to Kyoto University and graduated in 2019. On the graduation requirements it said NO THESIS was needed, but the second year there is a "workshop" that last 2 semesters, and it was focused on research. On the first semester of the second year we had to present our research topic, hypothesis, methodology, etc. and on the second semester, for graduation, we had to present the findings, conclusions and do QA. And submit a written report of no less than 50 pages.
So... "no thesis"

I was so glad I had already done a lot of thinking on the topic for the MEXT application, and that really helped.

Another thing is... Think of 3 o 4 topics YOU are interested in, and then look for professors that share that interest to choose your Universities.
In case you do have to do research, it will be a thousand times more fun to do so on a topic YOU have interest in, instead of researching something that a professor has interest in and you are just stuck there because you have to adapt yourself to the professor.

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

I also searched about several business schools in Japan. The only one requiring a research proposal in the application is Kobe.
Other schools such as Keio, Waseda, NUCB, APU do not ask for it.

Hitotsubashi said that "Applicants who apply for MEXT with Embassy can not apply for MBA program. Only applicants who apply for MEXT with university can apply for MBA program".
As far as I know about MEXT with uni, applicants will apply as normal and university will decide which one is worth to nominate to MEXT. In the application package of Hitotsubashi, there is no research proposal requirement.
Also, I know several alumni from Hitotsubashi in my country. They all agreed that there was no research for the 2nd year.

Maybe the syllabus differs at each school.

I had offer from Waseda (I apply directly with them) and I would start as an MBA student right after entry.

Well, actually I tried to apply for MEXT with embassy last year and I failed. Writing methodology was kind of hard for me since there were not many research workshop or sessions at my university, and my topic was not interesting enough I think.
Maybe I would try to see other scholarship. Thank you!
 
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