Application procedure

Daiwa Scholarships 2022 will begin in late July/August 2022 and will finish on 31 March 2024.

The deadline for Daiwa Scholarships 2023 is 1 December 2022.

• The first-round interviews are scheduled to take place in February 2023.
• The second stage is scheduled for February 2023 as well (tbc).
• The final interviews, conducted by a panel made up of our trustees , will take place in March 2023.

Up to eight Scholars will be selected in 2023.

The selected Daiwa Scholars will undertake a one-month intensive, residential Japanese language course in the UK from late July/early August 2023 and will move to Japan for the rest of the Scholarship in early to mid September. There is also a short orientation on arrival in Tokyo.

Here you can view a Duty of Care document relating to the Daiwa Scholarships.

Applying

Please apply online and do take time to read the application notes before commencing the application.

Daiwa Scholarships 2023 application notes

The online application form for Daiwa Scholarships 2023 can be found below:

online application form

Important

The application form cannot handle special characters/symbols. If you are having problems with the application, it may be due to extraneous symbols. Sometimes characters can be hidden (when copying and pasting into the application form). In this case, please copy the text into “notepad”, clean any strange encoding and copy back from notepad into the application text box.

The application form cannot handle Japanese characters, macrons and symbols such as  ~ .
Hyphens and questions marks are fine, but try and avoid bullet points. Please feel free to indicate new paragraphs using //. 
“Completed” (submitted)   applications are imported into our system as word documents and reformatted in-house so please do not worry unduly about the appearance of the text you are importing. 

Applicants are also requested to arrange for three confidential references to reach us by the application deadline. The Foundation cannot obtain references on applicants’ behalf. They are an essential part of the application process.

If you are a student or a recent graduate,  then your references should come from your academic tutors. If you graduated some years ago or have relevant professional experience, then it is advisable to obtain a reference from your supervisor or line manager in addition to two academic reference. Your referees should not include relatives or purely personal friends. The references are a vital part of the application and should come from people who know you and your work in an official capacity.

Reference letters can be emailed to Scholarships@dajf.org.uk

Ideally the references should be typed on letterheaded paper – where possible – and emailed as PDF attachments. The applicant should not be copied in.

Deadline

The deadline for applications and submission of three reference letters for the 2023 programme is Thursday 1 December 2022. If candidates’ circumstances change (for instance, change address) after submitting an application, they must inform the Foundation in writing. Candidates shortlisted for the first-round interviews will be contacted from mid-January 2022 onwards.

Interviews – we will review as necessary in the light of Covid-19

There are three stages to the interview process. The Foundation assumes that all selected candidates will be able to attend interview at Daiwa Foundation Japan House in London during the dates indicated below. While the Foundation is unable to reimburse travel expenses for candidates to attend the first two interview stages, it will reimburse reasonable travel expenses to attend the final interview. The Foundation regrets that it is unable to reimburse any accommodation costs, should these be incurred.

Stage 1

The preliminary screening of application forms will take place during January 2023. Candidates will be notified (towards the end of January 2023) whether or not they are invited to a Stage 1 interview (held in February 2023).

Stage 2

Candidates who successfully pass Stage 1 will be invited to sit a language aptitude test and attend a lunch at Daiwa Foundation Japan House in mid to late February 2023. Candidates will be notified whether they are invited to Stage 3 interview shortly afterwards.

Stage 3

The final shortlist of candidates will be interviewed by the Trustees  in March 2023. Candidates will be notified of the final outcome soon afterwards.