Message from Dean,2018

Mitsuhiro Hayashida

Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture,
Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University

The Faculty of Agriculture of Yamagata University is located in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture．Yamagata is famous not only for its agriculture, producing products such as rice, cherries, western pears, and so on, but also for its tourist attractions. Yamagata is situated amidst forested mountains and is bordered on the west by the Japan Sea. Research on beech forests and river dynamics as well as on agricultural products is currently being conducted in this very snowy region.

The Faculty of Agriculture has a department, the Department of Food, Life and Environmental Sciences, with six courses: Safe and Reliable Agricultural Production; Management of Food, Agriculture, and Environment; Food and Applied Life Sciences; Plant and Bioresource Sciences; Forest Science; and Environmental Science and Technology for Water and Land Use. The Master’s Program in the Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences includes three scientific specialties: Bioproduction Science, Bioresource Science, and Bioenvironmental Science. The Ph.D. Program is housed at the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences of Iwate University (UGAS), a joint undertaking of three universities.

Foreign students can start as undergraduate students, beginning the first year after they take the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU). Based on international exchange agreements, international students stay for periods ranging from 6 to 12 months via the Short-term Exchange Program at Yamagata University for International Students (SHEP). Most international students are registered in the Master’s and Ph.D. programs. Graduate students can receive funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship Program (JGS). Additionally, some graduate students are privately financed or self-financed. JGS funding requires a university recommendation from the Faculty of Agriculture of Yamagata University and a recommendation from the embassy of the student’s home country. Typically, recommendations from universities with an international university or faculty agreement are given preference.

At present, 32 foreign faculties /universities and institutes have international agreements with the Faculty of Agriculture include China, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and so on. Currently, 46 foreign students from these countries are studying and conducting research in association with the faculty. Students who are self-financed have access to a domestic system for scholarship selection. Please join us at the Faculty of Agriculture of Yamagata University as we meet the needs of students’ home countries and of Japan.