International Master's/Doctoral Degree Program: Information, Technology, and Society in Asia (ITASIA)

Programme overview

ITASIA is the English-language international graduate programme of the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies (GSII) at the University of Tokyo, launched in 2008 and based on the Hongo Campus. This record covers the two-year M.A.S. (Master of Arts and Sciences in the field of Information Studies) track only; ITASIA also runs a Ph.D. track, which is out of scope. The programme studies the political, economic and social transformation of Asia through media, communication, information studies, technology and international relations, and is deliberately interdisciplinary — taught by faculty drawn from the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies (III), the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Law and elsewhere. All instruction is in English, no Japanese is required for admission, and the academic year begins in October rather than April. Master's students take a set of core courses in Asian studies, media and communication, research methods and information technology, then specialise through electives and a master's thesis written in English under a faculty advisor. Admission is a single annual, entirely online, document-based competition: applicants submit an online application with two referee evaluations, transcripts and degree certificates, a writing sample in English, an official TOEFL iBT or IELTS Academic score sent directly by the test provider (non-native speakers), and an official GRE General Test score sent directly by ETS. Classes are small — the Admissions Guidelines 2026 project 13 M.A.S. entrants.

The M.A.S. programme is a two-year, 30-credit taught master's inside the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. Teaching runs on the University of Tokyo's four-term calendar (A1, A2, S1, S2) starting in the autumn: "A1 (October 2-November 27), A2 (November 28-January 31), S1 (April 4-June 2), S2 (June 3-July 28)" — the guideline and curriculum pages print these term boundaries without a year. "The ITASIA Program requires Masters students to complete a set of core courses encompassing media and communication, technology, history, and international relations. These courses aim to provide students with a strong foundation in the humanities and social sciences, which is crucial for conducting research on Asian society in the information age. Drawing upon this foundational knowledge, students further specialize their expertise by selecting elective courses and authoring a Masters thesis under the supervision of faculty members." Courses are numbered by area: ITASIA 100s Asian Studies, 200s Media and Communication Studies, 300s Theories and Methods, 400s Information Technologies, 700s Academic Project Management, 800s Academic Skills. Electives are not confined to the programme: "Students may take elective classes in any course of the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies or department of the University of Tokyo", and elective courses taught in Japanese also count towards the degree. Every student is assigned a tentative academic advisor before matriculation and confirms an official advisor after six months. Required classes and most electives are scheduled in the afternoon and evening so that students can study Japanese in the morning.

Important facts