Nationality	Citizens of Sri Lanka
Age	Below the age of 45 as of April 1st, 2022 (in principle)
Academic Background	Be a JDS Returned Fellow (a person who completed Master’s Degree under JDS), OR a person who completed Master’s Degree in Japan
Target Group	- Eligible Officer : Have returned to and served for the country for a certain years set by his/ her organization after completion of Master’s Degree Belong to the Target Group of JDS and his/ her research theme is relevant to the Development Issues of Sri Lanka Receive a recommendation from the supervisor of his/her current duty office. (Reference Letter should contain evaluation of applicant’s performance at work and relevance of his/her research theme to his/her career.) Have a recommendation from the expected academic adviser(s) of the applying university (Submission of a draft academic guidance outline or a supervisory plan is desirable.)
Health Condition	A person of sound mind and body * Applicants need to take and pass all medical check-up priority to the technical interview, arranged by JDS Project Office. Applicant who cannot take or pass all medical check-up will be disqualified from JDS scholarship.
Pre-condition	Applicants are expected to have special interest in studying in Japan as well as motivation to utilize their experience and human network developed through JDS in their career
Ineligibility	A person falls under any of the following items is NOT eligible to apply: Military personnel registered on the active list or person on alternative military service cannot apply for JDS. Those who are currently awarded or scheduled to receive another scholarship from other foreign donors. Those who have obtained a Doctor’s degree overseas under the support of foreign governments scholarship programs.

1) Application Deadline

Deadline for Application: November 12th (Friday), 2021

Application documents will not be returned for any reason.
Application documents must be submitted to ERD from your Ministry or Organization by deadline. Late submission and incomplete application documents shall NOT be accepted.
(NOTE: Only if the eligible and complete number of applications received is less than 60, the application deadline will be extended for 10 working days automatically. It will be announced on JDS Website soon after the original deadline.)

2) Tentative Schedule

Schedule	Steps	Description
Sep – Nov 12th, 2021	Application	Closing Date: 4:30 p.m. on November 12th (Fri), 2021 To Ministry of Finance, Department of External Resources through ministry or organization to which you belong. Further details → See “8. Application Procedure” in Application Guideline
Nov, 2021– Jan, 2022	1st Selection	Document Screening: Application Documents and research plan will be examined by the JDS Operating Committee*1.
Jan, 2022	Health Checkup	The health checkup will be arranged at a hospital in Colombo
Mar, 2022	2nd Selection	Comprehensive Interview: The Operating Committee members will conduct the interview exams.
End of March, 2022	Approval by the OC	Successful candidates will be approved and notified

Mar – Jul, 2022	Application and Screening by the University	Each university will conduct its entrance examination for the candidates. Each universities has their own evaluation criteria, and some universities require an interview or a written test in Japan. (In such case, JDS will support the candidates for the travel cost to Japan)
Jul, 2022	Notification of Screening Result	Final successful candidates will be announced by the Operating Committee after screening by accepting universities.
Sep - Oct, 2022	Departure for Japan	JICE will arrange air-ticket, visa, and also support after the arrival in Japan

* Above schedule is subject to change
^*1 In case where the total number of applications is more than six (triple of the number of slots), document screening by the O/C will be conducted before the interview.

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