Admission standards

The International Physics Course (IPC) at the Graduate School of Science of Osaka University ordinarily admits only those applicants who have completed an undergraduate major in Physics or the equivalent.
  In determining the admissibility of a prospective graduate student, the IPC carefully considers transcripts of academic work, letter(s) of recommendation, research experience, statement of purpose, and proficiency in English.
  The Graduate Program in Physics at the IPC is designed for those intending to pursue research leading to a PhD. A Master degree will be awarded to students who successfully complete the necessary coursework requirements and a Master thesis. The IPC faculty also welcomes applications from those who have already completed a Master course and intend to extend their research into a PhD course.

Application eligibility

The applicant must be able to speak and understand English well enough to attend lectures and work in the laboratory in English. Furthermore the following conditions must be met.

Master course

The applicant must have graduated from an undergraduate program or expect to graduate by September 30, 2014.*

PhD course

The applicant must have been awarded a Master degree (from Osaka University or any other university) or a degree equivalent to a professional degree, or expect to be awarded such a degree by September 30, 2014.

* By September 30, 2014, the applicant must have completed or expect to complete 16 years of formal education in countries other than Japan. Applicants who have completed 15 years of formal education are also eligible, provided that their academic achievement is certified to be at an equivalent, or higher, level. For more information on this point, please contact the IPC office via email.

Special application period
An additional (not regular) application opportunity for academic year 2013 (starting from October 1, 2013) will be opened from May 1st to June 30th, 2013. This applies exclusively to applicants to the Ph.D. course and not to those to the Master course.
Selection procedure for Ph.D. IPC course applicants for the special application period

Note: Before submitting the application documents, the applicant must contact the head(s) of the research group(s) in which the applicant intends to carry out research.

1st step: Material evaluation

The Graduate Selection Committee reviews the application documents. If the application is accepted, the applicant will be notified by email and advised on how to proceed to the next steps.

2nd step: Interview evaluation

The applicant will be interviewed by faculty members of the International Physics Course. The interviews will take place at Osaka University or in other locations inside Japan.

Material required for application to the IPC (special application period)

Applicants to the IPC courses should send the following documents to the IPC office by the deadline stated above. The applicant should send documents 1- 5, while the recommendation letters 6 should be sent by the recommenders. The students proceeding from the IPC Master course to the PhD course are required to submit 1, 2, and 4.
  The documents should be sent to the IPC office directly as one PDF file by e-mail (IPCoffice@ile.osaka-u.ac.jp).

1.Application form

The Application Form can be downloaded below.

Application form [PDF 100KB]
Application form [WORD 140KB]

2.Official transcripts

Official transcripts of undergraduate and graduate work for applicants to the PhD course should be sent.


3.Certificate of Master Degree

PhD course
Certificate of Master Degree (or Certification of Expected Completion):
An official certificate of completion of the Master degree (or certification of expected completion for applicants who will graduate by September 30, 2013) should be sent.

4.Statement of purpose

  The statement of purpose is considered with particular care in the selection process. It should contain two sections:
  (1) Motivation and plans for the chosen course and for postgraduate research (at most two pages); the applicants to the PhD course should also write briefly about their present Master thesis.
  (2) The description of the personal reasons why the applicant wishes to join specifically the IPC at Osaka University in Japan, as compared to other graduate schools (at most one page).


5.Master thesis

It is standard to submit a hard copy of your thesis, but if the pdf file of your thesis is smaller than 20 MB, it may also submitted as an attachment to an email. If the Master thesis was not written in English, a two-page research summary in English should be submitted together with the Master thesis. If the pdf file of the summary is smaller than 20 MB, it also may be submitted as an attachment to an email. Applicants who have not yet graduated and, therefore, whose thesis is not yet complete should submit a two-page summary of their research to date in a pdf file.

6.Recommendation letters

Master and PhD courses
Evaluation letters for the applicant are required from two or more persons qualified to evaluate the applicant's physics training, such as the applicant’s supervisor or instructor of a physics class the applicant has taken.
The applicant and the supervisor or instructors should fill in the form that can be downloaded below. In addition to this form, the supervisor or instructor should write an evaluation letter that should include the supervisor or instructor judgment on the applicant and the reasons why the applicant is recommended for the IPC.
Both documents should be sent to the IPC office directly by each supervisor or instructor, first via e-mail (by the application deadline) and then also by post (with the original signature).

Recommendation letter
Recommendation letter

IPCoffice@ile.osaka-u.ac.jp

Mail to:
The IPC office, Osaka University
c/o ILE, 2-6 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, JAPAN

Fees

1. No application nor examination fees are required.
2. Enrollment fee: 282,000 JPY (as of April, 2012)
3. Tuition fee: 267,900 JPY for one semester (535,800 JPY per year) (as of April, 2012)
(JPY: Japanese Yen)
A number of students may be exempted from enrollment fees as well as tuition fees after admission. In particular, Japanese government scholarship students are exempted from both fees and students who will graduate in September 2013 from the master course of graduate schools of Osaka University are exempted from the entrance fee. During the course of their studies, scholarships will be granted to a number of students with excellent academic performance.


Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science
Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka 560-0043, Osaka, Japan