National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) — photo 1

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) — photo 2

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National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Campus life

Student accommodation

GRIPS has no housing on or near the campus. It allocates rooms at three off-campus sites, the nearest about 40 minutes away in Nakano, and placement is not guaranteed.

International House 2, single room of 21-24 m2: ¥60,300-61,800 a month all in, and International House 1, 24-30 m2: ¥62,300-71,800. Internet is included in the rent at both.

Tokyo International Exchange Center, a JASSO hall GRIPS holds an allocation in: ¥46,640 a month all in for a 20 m2 single without a kitchen, or ¥63,640 for a 30 m2 room.

For couples: ¥86,800 a month at International House 2 and ¥87,800 at House 1, both all in. Neither takes children — a couple with a child needs a different site.

With a family: ¥87,140 a month for a couple with one child aged 0-6 at TIEC Hall C, or ¥101,140 for a 100 m2 family flat in Hall D.

MISATO, where GRIPS says most students with children go, is not a dormitory but a 1970s public housing estate in Saitama, unfurnished, 80-120 minutes each way, at ¥86,000-99,210 a month.

Housing is requested through a questionnaire sent AFTER acceptance, so there is no housing application window to act on while you apply.

The move-in fee is one month's rent and is not refundable. Leases run a year and mid-year room changes are not allowed, so anyone bringing family must choose a family room from the start.

Campuses and infrastructure

All National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) campuses. Where a programme is taught at a specific campus, its own page says so.

Roppongi Campus

The whole of GRIPS in one building opposite the National Art Center: a 14-storey faculty tower joined to a low-rise by a skylit atrium, holding the classrooms, library and the 300-seat Soukairou Hall. Five minutes from Roppongi station. · 7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677, Japan

View campus Open in Google Maps

Student support

Most GRIPS funding is sponsor-based, and a Japanese-language page states that 90% of its international students hold a government or international-organisation scholarship.

Two awards are open to a self-funded applicant with no government post, both applied for directly through GRIPS: the MEXT University Recommendation for under-35s, and ADB-JSP for under-36s with work experience and no existing master's.

Several awards list Uzbekistan but are closed in practice: YLP requires a serving official and goes through the embassy in Tashkent, and JISPA requires macroeconomic-policy employment and goes through the IMF.

There is no tuition reduction at master's level. The only exemption published is for doctoral students of three or more years' standing finishing a dissertation, and tuition paid is not refundable.

A self-financed applicant must show ¥2,800,000 for the first year at the point of application.

Information for International Students, run by the Student Office

GRIPS Bulletin, the student life guide

Health Services Center — a doctor and nurse, free and without appointment, though it cannot issue prescriptions

GRIPS publishes no Certificate of Eligibility guidance beyond listing it as a document to carry, and states it will not help with family visas.

There is no standalone Japanese course for beginners. The communication centre teaches kanji, composition and business Japanese as professional skills.

No careers service is published — consistent with an intake that mostly returns to a home ministry. GRIPS reports 80% of its graduates work in the public sector.