International Program for Human-centered AI Society

• Added a note on eligibility screening (August 21st, 2024)
• Added an important note on the language proficiency document and FAQ (August 20th, 2024)
• This website is updated for FY2025 (July 10th, 2024)

About the program

The Degree Program in Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, has offered a program named International Program for Human-centered AI Society (HCAIP) for AY2022-AY2024.
The program aims to foster technical experts who have the ability to develop and apply AI technologies for solving real issues in our society. In addition to the fundamental knowledge and skills about AI and information technolgies, students are also encouraged to study domain knowledge and ethics toward using AI for specific application fields.
To explore application research fields, research and education program will be offered in collaboration with the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research at the University of Tsukuba.
Details of the HCAIP curriculum can be found at Human-centered AI Curriculum.

Currently, the Degree Program in Computer Science is preparing a successor program of HCAIP for AY2025 applicants. The successor program requires an approval from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan to provide a scholarship for AY2025-AY2027. Please read "Important notes for AY2025 applicants" in the next section carefully. In the following explanations, please replace "HCAIP" with the successor program as appropriate.

MEXT Scholarship

The HCAIP program offers a special scholarship for international students.

• The support offered by this scholarship is the same as the Japanese government (MEXT) scholarship.
• More details can be found at Japanese Government Scholarship (University of Tsukuba)

• Even if the successor program for AF2025-AY2027 is not accepted by the MEXT, those who pass the entrance examination can be admitted as privately funded international students. In that case, the scholarship will not be provided and they must bear their own living expenses, traveling expenses, admission fee, tuition and other necessary expenses. The entrance examination fee for the successor program will not be collected in any case.
• The official scholarship application conditions are scheduled to be announced by MEXT in December 2024. Therefore, scholarship conditions and other information in these application guidelines are subject to change. UT will notify the applicants if there are any changes to the information provided on the guidelines.

• Master's course: 4
• Doctoral course: 4

• Applicants need to satisfy the eligibility requirements specified in the guidelines.
• The application guidelines for AY2025 are available here: 2025 Application guidelines

Candidates who wish to apply for the master's degree without a bachelor's degree or apply to the doctoral degree without a master's degree must pass an eligibility screening to confirm academic qualifications equivalent to or higher than the relevant degree (see "3-2. Details of Eligibility Requirements and Eligibility Screening"). If this applies to you, please email us as soon as possible before the prescreening application deadline (August 23rd).

Application procedure

• The first step toward the application to the program is finding a prospective academic supervisor in our degree program.
• You can find a list of faculties and their research fields here: list of faculties.
• You need to contact a prospective supervisor and obtain their consent for your application to the MEXT scholarship offered by HCAIP program.

• All the applicants need to pass the prescreening before taking the entrance exam.
• Prepare the following application documents in PDF format.
  1. Cover page including i) the course you are applying to (Master's course/Doctoral course), ii) your field of research, and iii) the name of your prospective academic supervisor (from whom you already obtained consent to apply)
  2. CV (including photo)
  3. Academic transcript of each academic year of the last university attended
  4. Certificate of Graduation or Expected Graduation of the last university attended
  5. Other documents indicating your academic excellence at the most recent academic institution, such as GPA, class rank, etc.
  6. Thesis abstract
  7. Research plan
  8. Document indicating your English or Japanese proficiency, such as grade report of TOEFL, IELTS, JLPT, etc.
     Important note (August 20th, 2024): In case that you cannot prepare the document for these language proficiency by the submission deadline of prescreening, please explain your situation in your email and submit the document by October 4th.
     • English: Score report of a language proficiency test that corresponds to B2 or higher level of CEFR.
     • Japanese: Certificate of passing the JLPT exam, level N2 or higher.
     • Note: MEXT only accepts language proficiency scores obtained after January 2022. This applies to *all" language proficiency tests.
• Submit the application documents via e-mail.
  • hcaip (AT) cs.tsukuba.ac.jp (Replace "(AT)" with an at sign.)
• The results of the prescreening will be notified in late September. (check the "Important dates")

• The applicants who passed the prescreening are notified to submit the application for the entrance examination.
• The application deadline is early October. (check the "Important dates")
• The details of the application for the entrance examination will be announced at the degree programs in systems and information engineering.

• The prospective applicants will be invited to take an online examination.
• Screening and selection are made on the basis of the submitted application documents and the oral examination.
• The examination results will be notified individually in early November.

• After the exam, the accepted students are recommended to MEXT as scholarship candidates.
• The official notification from MEXT will be announced individually in late February.

Important dates

FAQ

• Q: What is the oral examination like?
  A: The content of our oral examination is similar to that of the regular examinations for master's and doctoral programs in Computer Science, except that we do not offer assessments on basic knowledge (e.g., mathematics, programming, etc.) for the master's program. The detail will be announced to the applicants who pass the prescreening.

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