FSSH student receives the most prestigious scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan
A student of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of WUNU has received the most prestigious scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
Tamara Melishkevych, a 4th year student majoring in Journalism, has won the most prestigious scholarship in Japan, which allows her to pursue a master's degree and conduct her own research. This is a government scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), which aims to promote cultural and educational cooperation between Japan and other countries by enabling students and alumni of foreign higher education institutions to undertake study or research internships at Japanese universities.
MEXT annually awards scholarships to participants of the Trainee Researcher programme based on the results of several stages of competitive selection conducted by the Japanese diplomatic missions in each of the countries participating in the programme. The programme is open to citizens of all countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Japan. Ukraine is among them.
According to Tamara, it all starts with the announcement by the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine that it is accepting applications for the programme. Before the war, participants had to submit the required documents in person or by registered mail to the Embassy of Japan in Kyiv. Given the current situation, scanned copies sent to the Embassy's email address are now accepted in Ukraine. It is important that all documents are written in Japanese or English without errors. Illiterate forms are not accepted.
Candidates who successfully passed the first stage of selection on the basis of the submitted documents had to pass a written exam in Japanese or English. These exams have now been cancelled due to the war.
The next stage is an interview at the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine, during which each candidate must demonstrate an appropriate level of oral proficiency in Japanese or English, and present a research plan to be carried out at one of the Japanese universities.
If the Embassy representatives inform the candidate of the successful interview, he/she must send a request for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance to the international departments of the Japanese universities where he/she wishes to do the internship. The applicant will be able to continue participating in the competition if he/she receives such a letter from at least one Japanese university before the deadline set by the Embassy of Japan and provides it to the Embassy representatives for further consideration.
The Embassy of Japan in Ukraine submits all the candidate's documents collected at the previous stages of the competitive selection process to the relevant MEXT department, whose representatives conduct additional screening of these documents, agree on the terms of the internship with the relevant universities and make the final decision on granting the scholarship. The results of the last stage of the competitive selection process are reported by the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine.
Tamara chose two universities in Tokyo for her internship - Nihon University and TokyoTech. Now she is waiting for the final decision from MEXT on which one she will study at.
She is a very worthy candidate for this scholarship. Despite her young age, she is fluent in English and Japanese, and has participated in several student exchange programmes at universities in different countries: she studied for a semester at the University of Lodz (Poland), majoring in Journalism, where she studied film culture, fashion, trends and celebrity in contemporary media, radio practice, radio drama, podcasting, language in media, citizen journalism, classroom analysis of intersectional feminism (gender studies); she participated in the International Summer School "Intercultural Analysis and its Applications" organised by the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences (Germany).
We sincerely congratulate Tamara on her well-deserved award for her hard work, perseverance, ability to overcome difficulties and develop her God-given talent. May your studies bring you benefit and pleasure, inspire you, empower you, and allow you to take away those pearls of knowledge that your young heart longs for! May there be many more pleasant experiences, interesting lessons, new achievements, victories and fulfilled dreams in your life!