Hi all! I’m an Australian student (19f) who is looking to apply to study in Japan on a scholarship that is being offered in my region. I would be studying business and design at a tertiary level. This would be a great opportunity for me. However, as an anxious person, and having heard about the pressure within the education system there, I’m worried about maintaining my GPA required for the scholarship. I’ve always gotten excellent grades, though I think it’s mostly natural intelligence and know I could have better study habits. Basically, I’m worried I’ll get there and find everyone is way out of my league. Does anyone have any experience studying as a foreigner in Japan that could give me advice? How did you find situating yourself in a different education system? Am I just unnecessarily hyping up how difficult it is? Thanks for any advice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/13tuxft/studying_in_japan/
3 comments
Hey!
I’m assuming you’re talking about a bachelors degree, not a master. If i’m wrong please correct me. I studied in Japan before Covid and in my experience the bachelors programs are mostly very lax and easy-going.
One important thing is that you can be failed if you don’t meet certain attendance in your lectures, which may vary from university to university. At my I believe it was 85% (and one pitfall may be that double lectures, e.g. 2x90mins count as 2 absents, not as one).
Tests normally are not too hard but of course this can also vary by university or even by the lecture.
I made friends with Japanese students from various universities and always heard the same stories, that a lot of students sleep in morning lectures just to be there and get attendance.
But of course, as you go to another country, you will certainly feel differently than normal students in terms of pressure etc. since it is not your home and you need to learn a lot of things new that were childsplay for you. So there is that factor to count in as well.
But I think it is very well manageable.
Hope this helps a little, if you have follow-up questions feel free to ask away 🙂
Is it a Monbusho (MEXT) scholarship, or something else? If Monbusho, then do be aware you will probably need significant Japanese language skills to get a scholarship.
Are you looking to do your entire degree, or a period on exchange, such as a semester or year?
Studying at most Japanese universities isn’t harder than good Australian universities. The issue is the language barrier, unless you study a specific course that is taught in English.
Junior High School and High School is crazy here with the amount of time kids are expected to study (rope learn). But once they get into university, it’s quite relaxed unless you’re in a typical course that requires a crazy amount of input like studying to be a doctor or lawyer.