Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare intends to pay the bill for some Asian international students attending Japanese medical schools.
With this first-of-its-kind endeavor, the ministry hopes to make a positive impact on the global community while simultaneously increasing the export of Japanese pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to other Asian countries.
The ministry plans to enroll approximately 20 students in the program, and it is anticipated to commence as early as fiscal 2026. To determine how well the program works, it will first be run as a trial. Potential applicants will be contacted by the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia, a Japanese-funded foreign group with its main office in Indonesia.
Fully Funded Medical Degrees Offered in Japan
Before coming to Japan, those chosen will get Japanese language training at home. In order to become doctors, they will spend six years in medical school. The government will pay for all of their educational and living costs. In a supplementary budget for fiscal 2024, the ministry has set aside 290 million yen for spending on connected matters.
Moving ahead, the details, like which countries are eligible, how applications are sought after, and which colleges accept overseas students, will be decided by the ministry. This program is designed to help Vietnamese students achieve their dream of becoming doctors in their home country if they fulfill the requirements set by the government.
The ministry reports that medical school tuition can cost several hundred thousand to several million yen per year and that foreign students frequently encounter difficulties due to a lack of common language skills. Even though there are scholarship and general support programs in place at some Japanese universities for overseas students, there has been no change in the influx of overseas medical students to the country.
Japan Student Services Organisation and others report that as of May of last year, a total of 217 foreign students (including those on short-term visas) were enrolled in Japan’s public and private medical schools. This represents less than 1% of the total number of medical school students in Japan.
“We would like international students to not just study medicine in Japan but also learn about the high quality of Japanese medical equipment and pharmaceuticals,” said an official at the ministry. “If they introduce these things in their countries after returning home, it will help grow the Japanese economy.”
