OXFORD, Miss. – One University of Mississippi student is to
get a life-changing opportunity to live and study in Japan
for a full academic year, thanks to a new scholarship
funded by the Japan Student Service Organization, or
JASSO.
The $10,000 scholarship for study at Osaka Gakuin
University in Osaka, Japan, is for the 2008-2009 academic
year. The program is administered through the UM Study
Abroad Office. OGU offers courses in Japanese language,
culture, social sciences, political science and business.
The scholarship program is open to all UM students in good
standing with a GPA of at least 2.5, said Blair McElroy,
study abroad advisor for Asian programs.
To apply for the Osaka Gakuin University scholarship,
students must write an essay, provide a reference and
complete a study abroad application and the OGU scholarship
application. The application deadline is April 3, with
award letters mailed by April 30.
“JASSO scholarships are designed for qualified
international students accepted by Japanese universities
under the student exchange agreement on a short-term basis
from about three months to one year,” said Mike H. Matsuno,
director of international programs at OGU. “We are excited
to recommend a student from the University of Mississippi
as a candidate.”
All academic areas are eligible, and students need not
speak Japanese to qualify, McElroy said.
“Students get an intensive Japanese language program while
they’re there, and that’s why they don’t necessarily have
to have any prior knowledge of Japanese language to qualify
for this program,” she said.
Students can go for the fall semester or for the full
academic year. The 10-month academic year is broken into
the fall semester, a seven-week interim program and the
spring semester. Students take 16 credits per week, with 10
credits of Japanese language and six credits of
subject-based courses taught in English for the fall
semester. The interim program is an intensive language
program, and all classes in the spring semester are taught
in Japanese, McElroy said.
Upon arrival in Japan, the scholarship recipient is to
receive 150,000 yen (about $1,500) and thereafter a monthly
stipend of 80,000 yen (about $800) for the duration of the
program, she said.
OGU is a private institution in the heart of Osaka, Japan’s
second-largest city and the country’s commercial center,
with Mitsubishi, Sanyo and Suntory calling it home. The
school is also UM’s only exchange partner in Japan offering
a home-stay option, providing students with a complete
immersion in Japanese culture.
“Because of the growing relationship between the
communities in north Mississippi and Japan, now is the
perfect time for a Mississippi student to consider studying
in Japan,” said Susan Oliphant, director of the UM Study
Abroad Office. “Imagine the impact of such study on future
employment.”
UM has exchange agreements with more than 43 universities
around the world. Through these agreements UM students can
spend a semester or year abroad, and students from
international universities can come to Ole Miss. Students
who study abroad on an exchange pay UM tuition and fees for
each semester they are abroad. They remain enrolled as Ole
Miss students and receive UM credit for the courses they
take.
Study abroad applications are available online at
http://www.olemiss.edu/abroad.
For OGU scholarship applications and more information on
the program, contact Blair McElroy at 662-915-1508 or
blair@olemiss.edu.