[Japan] AUN/SEED-JICA Master Scholarships 2010 in Nine Engineering Fields

The AUN/SEED-Net Project with support from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provides scholarships to highly qualified young teaching staff and graduating students/young graduates (i.e., potential future faculty staff) of Member Institutions to acquire master’s degrees in the following nine engineering fields at respective Host Institutions in other countries:
Chemical Engineering at De La Salle University (DLSU)
Civil Engineering at Chulalongkorn University (CU)
Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Chulalongkorn University (CU)
Environmental Engineering at University of Philippines-Diliman (UP)
Geological Engineering at Gadjah Mada University (UGM)
Information and Communication Technology at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang (KMITL)
Manufacturing Engineering at University of Malaya (UM)
Materials Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at Institute of TechnologyBandung (ITB).

In order for AUN/SEED-Net students to produce high quality thesis research of international standard and to ensure the completion of the master’s degree within two years, AUN/SEEDNet provides vital support, in terms of financial and academic, through joint thesis research supervision, to AUN/SEED-Net Master’s students at all Host Institutions. The joint thesis research supervision will be carried out through the Collaborative Research Program, which has been created by each Host Institution for a few well-defined research themes (or research umbrellas) in consultation with Japanese Field Coordinating University, each of which is a collection of interrelated and progressively conducted thesis research topics. Each AUN/SEED-Net student (including doctoral sandwich student) shall conduct thesis research under one of these research themes.

Besides, according to AUN/SEED-Net Students’ Mobility scheme which is promoted to enable students to benefit educationally and culturally from the experience of learning at other Member Institution(s), Master’s students may be supported to take a course(s) or conduct research at other Member Institution(s) for a short period. Students are advised to consult with their advisors and Host Institution on the necessity, possibility and procedures of their mobility.

Those who complete this Master’s Degree Program with outstanding thesis research are encouraged to pursue a doctoral degree in one of the above nine fields either at Japanese Supporting Universities under the “Doctoral Degree Program in Japan”, or at Host Institutions (in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand) under the “Doctoral Degree Sandwich Program” with co-supervision by Japanese professors, or at the two Singaporean universities (NTU & NUS) under “Doctoral Degree Program in Singapore”.

The upgrading scheme is expected to be implemented at some host institutions for master’s students who prove outstanding performance and wish to get upgraded to doctoral level. The details will be finalized by all concerned and announced in due course.

2. Objectives
To increase the number of high quality Master’s degree holders in engineering at Member Institutions which would be necessary to contribute to a sustainable industrial development of ASEAN countries.
To strengthen the Master’s degree programs at the Host Institutions so that the production of high quality Master’s degree holders in engineering needed for the region is materialized within the region in collaboration with the Member Institutions and Japanese Supporting Universities.
To strengthen human networking among teaching staff of Member Institutions and Japanese Supporting Universities.

3. Eligibility of Applicants
(a) Applicants must hold a Bachelor’s degree in an appropriate discipline of engineering, or to be awarded the Bachelor’s degree before starting the Master’s degree program.
(b) Applicants should be ranked within top 10% of the class, or have the grade point average of 3.0 or higher from the grade point system of 4.0 in their undergraduate study.
(c) Applicants must be young faculty staff of Member Institutions, or graduating students, or young graduates of Member Institutions who are strongly motivated to pursue a professional career as faculty staff at Member Institutions.
(d) Applicants should be under the age of 30 at the time of application and capable of carrying out independent research.
(e) Applicants who have already received another equivalent major award, scholarship or a salary to undertake a proposed course are not eligible forscholarships.

4. Selection of Host Institution(s)
(a) Each Host Institution is assigned to host one or two Engineering fields. Applicants must choose to apply to the Host Institution(s) that offer(s) their proposed field of study.
(Please see list of Host Institutions and their host fields in Attachment 1, and visit our website at http://www.seed-net.org/application_form.htmlfor application forms.)
(b) Each Host Institution has drawn up research umbrellas or themes under Collaborative Research Program. It is advised that all applicants should be well aware of research areas that each Host Institution can offer to AUN/SEED-Net students before selecting Host Institution(s), by carefully studying Collaborative Research umbrellas and choose their tentative thesis research topics accordingly. (For details on Collaborative Research umbrellas of each field, please visit our website at http://www.seednet.org/research_umbrella.php )
(c) In addition, possible research areas of study will also be expanded to cover five interdisciplinary areas, namely Biotechnology, Disaster Mitigation, Global Environment, Natural Resources/Materials, and New/Renewable Energy. In case an applicant proposes a research topic under these research areas, one is still expected to choose one of the Host Institutions, depending on the focus of the research topic (e.g., if the topic is Mechanical Engineering related renewable energy, applicants should choose ITB. If the topic is Manufacturing Engineering related disaster mitigation, applicants should choose UM. If the topic is Electrical and Electronic Engineering related biotechnology, then the applicants should choose CU)
(d) Applicants can apply to the maximum of two Host Institutions, but cannot apply to any institution within their own country.
(e) Applicants should be aware that some Host Institutions strictly require their applicants to obtain a TOEFL and/or GRE score as an admission requirement. (Please contact each Host Institution for more details.)

5. Target Number of Scholarships

Around 45 scholarships for the Japanese Fiscal Year 2010 will be supported (approximately five scholarships for each host field at Host Institutions in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand).

6. Coverage of Scholarships

The scholarships cover tuition fees, living expenses, health insurance, visa fee and airport tax, and a round-trip air ticket, in accordance with the AUN/SEED-Net Project regulations. There may be partial support(s) from concerned Host and Sending Institution.

7. Commencement and Duration of Scholarships

The commencement of scholarship should be within the Japanese Fiscal Year 2010; that is, awarded students should commence their study within April 2010 – March 2011.

The duration of the scholarship is strictly two years, counting from the day of arrival at a Host Institution. Students who need more than two years to acquire a degree will be expected to self-finance during period of extension.

Note: The AUN/SEED-Net Project, in consultation with the Host Institution, will terminate the award of any student who fails to maintain satisfactory progress at the Host Institution.

8. Application and Screening Procedure

It is advisable for applicants to study and follow the application procedure below. (Please see Attachment 2 for a flow chart of the procedure.)
Applicants submit one set of AUN/SEED-Net’s Application Form (for scholarship) and two sets of Host Institution(s)’ Application Form(s) (for university admission), along with other required documents to the contact person at Member Institutions (as Sending Institutions) to which the applicants belong. The list of names of contact persons at Member Institutions (or Sending Institutions) is given in Attachment 3.
The contact person of each Sending Institution sends a collection of Application Forms to AUN/SEED-Net, together with an endorsement letter from the Dean or designated person endorsing the applications. Please note that sending application directly to AUN/SEEDNet without the endorsement letter will not be accepted. (Sending Institutions may submit the collection of application forms more than once within the deadline.)
AUN/SEED-Net will check all required documents and request missing documents from applicants through Sending Institution, if necessary.
AUN/SEED-Net forwards the collection of Host Applications to respective Host Institutions for admission screening.
Host Institutions screen applicants for admission and identify potential advisor(s), then inform the admission result to AUN/SEED-Net.
AUN/SEED-Net starts its screening for scholarships and informs the result to respective Sending Institutions.Note: At the time of admission and scholarship screening, Host Institutions and AUN/SEED-Net may contact Sending Institutions and/or applicants for missing documents or further information.
Sending Institutions inform their successful applicants to confirm their acceptance of scholarships via Reply Form and submit missing documents, if any, to AUN/SEED-Net.
Contractual matters between Host Institutions and AUN/SEED-Net begins.

9. Submission Deadline of the Application Form

Applications for the Master’s Degree Program should be submitted, in printed forms, to the AUN/SEED-Net Project by January 31, 2010.

10. Scholarship Allocation

The scholarships, in principle, should be distributed across fields and across Sending Institutions.

Application to be submitted to:

AUN/SEED-Net Project
(Master’s Degree Program)
Faculty of Engineering Building 2, Room 109-110
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330, THAILAND