Japan grants scholarships for Masters, PhD study programmes

The Japanese government has offered 150 Masters and four PhD degree programme scholarships for Sri Lankan executive level public officials to pursue their studies in Japan.

These scholarships would be granted under the Japanese Grant Aid (JDS) for Human Resources Development Scholarship Programme which was launched in 2010, the Ministry of Finance said.

This programme involves the Japanese and Sri Lankan governments along with Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Issuing a press release, the Finance Ministry noted that the Japanese government has agreed to offer a grant of Rs 420 million for the third phase of this project for this year.

The first and second phases of the project were conducted between 2010 – 2013 and 2014 – 2017 respectively, before being extended into the third phase which will run from 2018 to 2021.

The selection process of officials who would be granted this opportunity has already been completed, and the first batch is set to commence studies in September.

According to the Finance Ministry, the total slots for the Masters and PhD Degree programmes would be divided into 15 and two slots a year.

Finance Secretary R H S Samaratunga, Akira Suriyagama, Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, and Fusato Tanaka, Chief Representative of JICA signed the agreement for the third phase of the project.