The Japanese government is offering full scholarships this year to international students interested in studying at Japanese universities as undergraduate or research students, a release from the Japanese embassy said yesterday.

Numerous fields of study are open to students from Guyana and elsewhere but there are specific age criteria in place for the scholarships. The research scholarship is open to persons born on or after April 2, 1974 and persons interested in the undergraduate scholarship must have been born between April 2, 1987 and April 1, 1992.

The release from the embassy stated that successful applicants will receive Japanese language instruction that will vary in terms of the period owing to the course being taken.

The research scholarship will either be from April 2009 to March 2011 (two years, including six months of language instruction) or from October 2009 to March 2011 (one year and six months, including six months of language instruction).

The undergraduate scholarship will either be from April 2009 to March 2016 for those majoring in medicine and related fields (seven years, including one year of language instruction) or from April 2009 to March 2014 for those majoring in other fields of study (five years, including one year of language instruction)……