Vulcanus programme

Always check the latest info and application criteria on the Official webpage.

What is the "Vulcanus in Japan" programme?

"Vulcanus in Japan" is an EU-Japan cooperation programme for university engineering and science students from EU membership countries. The programme lasts for a whole year starting in September and ending in August of the following year.

It consists of:

• a one-week seminar on Japan
• apparently one week's worth of lectures during autumn
• a four-month intensive Japanese language course
• from September to December
• classes are held every weekday from 9:00 to 15:10 at Naganuma School in Shibuya
• an eight-month traineeship in a Japanese Company
• from January to August
• participants spread out to different companies, most of them somewhat near Tokyo
• there might be several participant in the same company or just one

Who pays what

"This programme is financed by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and the Japanese host company. The European students are awarded a grant (Yen 1.900.000) to cover the cost of travel to and from Japan and living expenses in Japan. There is no charge for the language course and seminar, and accommodation is provided free of charge during the course and seminar and the company traineeship."

So basically that means around 1000e to spend in a month if you deduct the flights to Japan from the grant. The accommondation is free, but transportation etc. one must pay by herself. Transportation costs vary a lot since based on your company you might be living only a 12 minute train trip away from the school or even as far as 1,5h away. I'll write more about the transportation and accommondation when we actually get some info and when we are in Japan.

How to apply

Deadline to apply is in January. I'll write a separate post about the application process later and I'll link it here. Meanwhile check out these two blogs of my fellow Vulcanus participants and of course also the official webpage for the programme.