As you know that I have written here about JICA scholarship, you can check the old blog here.
Here, you can read my another opinion about it that has been written in the brochure as follow:
I encourage you to take the opportunity if there is a JICA scholarship offering. Especially JICA Development Studies Program : SDGs Global Leadership Program for the civil servant throughout Indonesia. Why I encourage you to take this opportunity?
The answer is because you will get so many opportunities. Before I explain detail about it. Let's check first what does JICA scholarship cover?
JICA Scholarship covers :
- Tuition Fees
- Living Allowance
- Airfare Tickets
- Outfit Allowance
- Moving Allowance
- Research Support Allowance (RSA)
- Visa Fee
Tuition Fees
Tuition fee will be paid directly to our University.
Living Allowance
144.000 yen. It will be used for dormitory fee and also our monthly spending. I could save monthly.
Airfare Tickets
The ticket will be facilitated by JICA (return ticket). I still remember we took the ANA (All Nippon Airways) when we went to Japan and we took JAL (Japan Airlines) when we returned to Indonesia.
Outfit Allowance
100.000 yen for outfit allowance. In my case, I bought the winter outfit in Indonesia, because when I arrived in Japan, it was already winter time. So, I did not have to buy winter outfit again in Japan.
Moving Allowance
From the first year to last year, I stayed in dormitory. But, we can move out from the dorm. If we stay off campus, we will be given moving allowance. Because I did not move out from dorm, there was no moving allowance for me.
Research Support Allowance (RSA)
RSA is given annually (30.000 yen monthly). I can say that RSA is the best part of this scholarship. I attended International conference in Greece which is supported by RSA in 2019. You can see my video here. Unfortunately, due to pandemic in 2020, there was no more international conference. So, how we spent the RSA in 2020? Yup, lucky us, our University and JICA allowed us to spend it on books. That's why I bought the books (any book I wanted to read).
Visa Fee
JICA will cover visa fee.
Above all, in my personal experience, why JICA Scholarship is the best, they do not set the high standard for GPA. In other words, there is no special requirement from JICA for the GPA we have to obtain in university. The requirement is just from the University itself. So, we have to meet minimum requirement GPA based on the program we take into in University.
Additional Information
JICA Center
JICA center in Tokyo |
JICA Scholar Gathering (Networking)
One of another benefits of being a part of JICA Scholarship is networking. JICA regularly will host a networking event. JICA will facilitate this meeting. There are also "lecture on specific theme". We can learn a lot from this meeting.
The unforgettable memory for me is when we visited Nagasaki. The historical city due to Atomic Bomb.
My article about Nagasaki Trip |
I wrote the article about Nagasaki and published it on commercial magazine (Vol. 39/2019, MyTrip Magazine).
That's all for me.
Good luck for you all who are pursuing education and scholarship.