Global Science Graduate Course (GSGC) — Master's Level Admission, Graduate School of Science

Programme overview

The Global Science Graduate Course (GSGC) is the Graduate School of Science's funded, fully English-medium graduate course for international applicants, run across its five departments — Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science, Chemistry and Biological Sciences. It differs from the school's Special Selection for International Applicants in two ways: GSGC is designed as a single five-year integrated Master's-plus-Doctoral scheme, and it carries a monthly course scholarship of 180,000 yen paid throughout enrolment. Applicants are admitted at master's level, to a supervisor's laboratory whose consent they must obtain before applying, and are additionally assigned a GSGC secondary supervisor. Selection is on the online application, submitted documents and test scores — TOEFL is required (IELTS is not accepted), GRE requirements differ by department, and some departments add an online oral or written examination. Two tracks are offered: GSGC(General), across all five departments, and GSGC(FoPM), the route into the Forefront Physics and Mathematics Program to Drive Transformation, open in Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science and Chemistry. Students are expected to continue into the doctorate but must pass a screening — a Qualifying Examination in the second master's year — to do so, and are required to apply for a JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists at doctoral level. The doctoral stage is outside the scope of this record. As of 27 August 2026 the most recent published edition is the guideline for October 2026 enrolment (updated 1 September 2025), whose application window closed on 22 December 2025; the October 2027 edition has not yet been released.

Applicants are admitted at master's level into one of the five graduate departments of the Graduate School of Science and into the laboratory of a supervisor whose consent they obtained before applying, and are additionally assigned a GSGC secondary supervisor drawn from the GSGC faculty. There is no separate GSGC department: students follow their department's regular two-year master's programme, in which coursework is closely tied to laboratory research, with all lectures delivered in English. On top of the departmental requirements GSGC adds its own course obligations — attending and presenting at the exchange meeting seminar, and meeting the secondary supervisor every three months with a signed research-progress report to the Graduate School Office. "As a general rule, the following credits are required: Master's program: 30 or more credits ... The number of necessary credits shall be determined by each department." Second-year master's students take a Qualifying Examination, which is the screening that governs progression to the doctoral stage.

Important facts