The Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) is open to citizens of certain developing countries with relevant professional experience and a history of supporting their countries’ development efforts who are applying to a master degree program in a development-related topic.
Subject to available funding, JJWBGSP offers scholarships for 26 Participating Programs at universities in U.S., Europe, Africa, Oceania and Japan in key areas of development, including economic policy management, tax policy, and infrastructure management. Please note that if you are not admitted to one of these 26 programs, you are not eligible to apply for a JJWBGSP Scholarship in 2022.
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To accommodate the academic calendar of the JJWBGSP Participating Programs, the next application process will be organized in two rounds:
Application Window#1
- From January 17, 2022 to February 28, 2022 at noon Washington time
- JJWBGSP Participating Programs accepting applications under Window #1
Application Window #2
- From March 29, 2022 to May 27, 2022 at noon Washington time
- JJWBGSP Participating Programs accepting applications under Window #2
After earning their degree, developing country scholars commit to return to their home country to use their new skills and contribute to their countries’ social and economic development.
Selection Process
The JJ/WBGSP uses the following process to review eligible scholarship applications from developing country nationals, with the aim of identifying the candidates with the highest potential, after completion of their graduate studies, to impact the development of their countries.
Two qualified assessors independently review each eligible application and score the application on a scale of 1 to 10, taking into account four main factors and the degree of cohesion among them:
- Quality of Professional Experience (30% weight)
- Quality of Professional Recommendations (30% weight)
- Quality of 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.
Benefits
The JJ/WBGSP scholarship provides the recipient with the following benefits:
- Economy class air travel between your home country and the host university at the start of your study program and immediately following the end of the scholarship period. In addition to the two-way air travel, scholars will receive a US $500 travel allowance for each trip;
- Tuition for your graduate program and the cost of basic medical insurance obtained through the university.
- While on campus during the scholarship period, a monthly subsistence allowance to cover all living expenses (accommodations, food, etc., including books). The amount of the allowance varies depending on the host country.
Please note: all JJ/WBGSP scholarships cover the duration of the graduate program or two years, whichever is less.
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.
Eligibilities
Broadly speaking, Developing Country nationals must:
- Not hold dual citizenship of any developed country;
- Be in good health;
- Hold a Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree earned at least 3 years prior to the Application Deadline date;
- Have 3 years or more of recent development-related work experience after earning a Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree;
- Be employed in development-related work in a paid full- time position at the time of submitting the scholarship application. Have at least 3 years of paid development-related employment since earning a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent university degree) and acquired within the past 6 years from the date of the Application Deadline.
- On or before the Scholarship Application Deadline date, be admitted unconditionally (except for funding) for the upcoming academic year to at least one of the JJ/WBGSP participating master’s programs located outside of the applicant’s country of citizenship and country of residence listed at the time the call for scholarship applications opens. The letter of admission must be uploaded before submitting your application.
- Not be an Executive Director, his/her alternate, and/or staff of any type of appointment of the World Bank Group or a close relative of the aforementioned by blood or adoption with the term “close relative” defined as: Mother, Father, Sister, Half-sister, Brother, Half-brother, Son, Daughter, Aunt, Uncle, Niece, or Nephew.
Please note: All eligibility criteria are strictly adhered to. No exceptions are made. Eligibility criteria WILL NOT change during an open call for applications. However, this information is subject to change between the close of one application process and the opening of the next.
Eligible Regions: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Dem. Rep., Congo, Rep., Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Arab Rep., El Salvador, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji , Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Fed. Sts., Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St Lucia, St Vincent, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga , Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen, Republic of Zambia, ZimbabweApplication Process
- First time accessing the online application portal, you will need to use the Sign Up button to create an account. If you are returning to the portal, you can Log In with your established account credentials.
- During the initial login, you will be asked to create a Profile. Click on Create a Profile to Get Started to access the profile form.
- Complete all necessary fields in the profile form. You can save a draft at any time, but in order to move to the application form, you will need to click Create Profile.
- The initial creation of your profile will bring you back to the home screen. You can update your profile if needed. Now you will be able to gain access to the application section. Click on +Get Started.
- Once you access the submission section you will find two forms to complete before you can click Submit. These forms are the JJWBGSP Developing Country Nationals Application and the JJ WBGSP Developing Countries Nationals Recommendation Request.
- Click Open next to the application form step. This will take you to the application form to complete the necessary fields. While interacting with the form, you can Save Draft at any time and when all required fields are completed, you can click Mark Complete to confirm completion of your form. Note: this does not submit your application, you are not done.
- Once you have completed the form and marked it as complete, you may still update the form
- until you submit the entire section. You will see the step status as Complete and the button changed to Edit. G
- On the same screen, you will also be required to send recommendation requests before you can submit your application. Click Open next to the Recommendation Request step. Alternatively, you can Save Draft to save your progress and send at a later time or Delete this request. Deleting a request is an option until the request has received a response.
- Once sent, you will be able to view the status of your request on the recommendation request landing.
- Repeat steps 5-7 to send your second request. Once you have two sent requests, this will make the recommendation request step as complete. You will no longer be able to add any other requests. You can:
- Send a Remind email once but every 24 hours to the recommender
- View the recommender request forms
- Delete the request (if not responded to) in order to send to a different recommender
- Click Close in the upper right corner to return to the submission section. With both forms completed, you can now click the Submit button to submit your full application package.
- Once submitted, your home page status will update from Application Intake to Under Review.
Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.
Application Deadline: February 28, 2022
Application ClosedOfficial link
