Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to request budget for financial support for students aiming for doctoral course September 19 5:14
Due to the influence of the new coronavirus, there is concern that the number of cases where students aiming for a doctoral degree will have trouble with living expenses and tuition fees will increase.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to include about 2.9 billion yen in the budget request for the next fiscal year in order to subsidize the cost of financial support for these students.
The number of students progressing from master's degree to doctoral degree continues to decrease due to lack of financial support compared to overseas universities.
Furthermore, there is concern that research will not proceed as expected by avoiding congestion to prevent infection with the new coronavirus, the time required to obtain a doctoral degree will be prolonged, and the number of students who will have trouble with living expenses and tuition fees will increase. I will.
For this reason, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) provides financial support for universities to provide scholarships that do not require repayment of 1.8 million yen or more per student per year, and to provide employment for students who have obtained a doctoral degree on campus or in a private company. We are considering subsidizing two-thirds of all the costs we support.
As an expense for that, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to include about 2.9 billion yen in the budget request for the next fiscal year, and if the request is approved, the number of students receiving scholarships is expected to be about 1,000 per year.
In addition, in order to avoid crowding of students on the university side, the policy is to request 11 billion yen as a cost to install equipment that can be remotely controlled even in places other than the university, and research will be conducted by suppressing the influence of the new coronavirus. I would like to strengthen the training environment for people.
Poor financial support for doctoral students
There are more than 70,000 students enrolled in the doctoral program at Japanese graduate schools nationwide, and they are considered to be human resources who support science and technology nations, but financial support is scarce and they have obtained a doctorate due to the influence of the new coronavirus. There are concerns that there will be many cases where the time to do so will be delayed.
The average annual scholarship per person for doctoral students in Japan is 780,000 yen, which is less than one-third that of American students.
Against this background, the number of students going on to doctoral programs at graduate schools continues to decline.
Furthermore, due to the effects of the new coronavirus, the use of laboratories has been suspended, and academic societies and symposiums have been postponed, causing major obstacles to research.
According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's research institute, more than 70% of the students enrolled in the doctoral program at the graduate school are concerned that the time to obtain a doctoral degree will be delayed.