Joint Japan/World Bank 2023 Graduate Scholarship Program

Published: 03 May 2023

Applications are now open for the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJWBGSP) for 2023-2025. Since its inception in 1987, the program has enabled over 6,000 mid-career professionals from 160 developing countries and Japan to complete graduate degrees in development-related fields.

Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program

Application Deadline	May 26, 2023
Type	Postgraduate
Sponsor	World Bank
Gender	Men and Women

Benefits of Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program

The JJ/WBGSP scholarship offers recipients:

• Economy class air travel to and from the host university
• US $500 travel allowance for each trip
• Tuition for the graduate program
• Basic medical insurance through the university
• A monthly subsistence allowance for living expenses while on campus

The JJ/WBGSP scholarship does not cover:

• VISA application(s) costs
• Expenses to bring and/or support a scholar's family members;
• Extra-curricular courses or training;
• Courses that do not meet the minimum credits required to earn the graduate degree;
• Language training not provided by the graduate program;
• Additional travel during the course of the study program;
• Expenses related to research, supplementary educational materials, field trips, participation in workshops/seminars, or internships; or
• Educational equipment such as computers.
• Resident permit fee

Note: The JJ/WBGSP scholarship may only supplement, and does not duplicate, any other source of financial support/fellowship you might have. If you are notified to be a semi-finalist or if you are awarded a scholarship, you must inform and document to the JJ/WBGSP at that time if you have other sources of scholarship funds. 

Requirements for Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be a national of a World Bank member developing country
• Not hold dual citizenship of any developed country
• Be in good health
• Have a Bachelor’s degree earned at least 3 years prior to the application deadline
• Have 3 years or more of recent development-related work experience
• Be employed in a full-time, paid development-related position at the time of application
• Be admitted unconditionally to one of the JJ/WBGSP participating master’s programs

Selection Process

The selection process takes into account four main factors:

• Quality of professional experience (30% weight)
• Quality of professional recommendations (30% weight)
• Commitment to your home country (30% weight)
• Quality of education background (10% weight)

The JJ/WBGSP Secretariat uses the average score of the two assessors and the following criteria to select the finalists:

• Maintaining a reasonably wide geographical distribution of awards
• Maintaining a reasonable distribution of awards across gender
• Unusual circumstances/hardships, when assessing the employment experience and other aspects of an application;
• Giving scholarships to those applicants who, other things being equal, have limited access to financial resources for graduate studies abroad.

The JJWBGSP Secretariat presents the finalists for the Participating Program scholarship to the JJ/WBG Steering Committee (composed of members of the World Bank Board of Directors and WB management) for approval. Winners are notified soon after the JJWBG Steering Committee approval. 

Application Deadline

May 26, 2023

How to Apply

Interested and qualified? Go to World Bank on thedocs.worldbank.org to apply