Recently I have read news that the Japanese government will again reduce the stipend of international graduate students under the scholarship of the Ministry of Education (MEXT).
So, as expected, a lot of people start to complain about it, saying they can´t live anymore, they are getting screwed, etc. And then, also as expected, a lot of OTHER people start to complain about the complaints, saying that the complainers should be happy for being given any money at all, that they are just guests, among other things.
This amount of missing the point, it hurts me so much.
Graduate students often have this terrible misconception that because they are ¨students¨, they are not working. This sometimes shows as an inferiority complex, where they think that what they do is not work; that any money they receive is not earned; that they should hurry up and get a ¨real job¨. No, the academic career is as real a job as any other, even though is not seen as one. You, as a PhD student, is no less a worker than someone who just joined a company. Your research will be used by your advisor to justify the grants that he receives, and his standing inside the university and funding agencies. You are working, results are expected of you, and you are being paid for those results. That stipend is your earned salary.
Of course, as in many things, there is another face to this coin. I´ve seen people use the ¨I´m just a student¨ mentality to avoid responsibility. These people will act as if they were on extended paid vacations. For them, the same thing applies: Your stipend is your salary, and you are expected to work for it. A PhD diploma and a thesis is nice, but the body of your work/contacts/classes/research activities is what is really being expected of you.
Back to the fact of the scholarship reduction itself, I think it is really unfortunate. Yes, it is possible to live in Japan, even in Tokyo, with the new current scholarship. But this current value means that you will earn almost as much money flipping burgers in Mac Donalds in Japan (or, as is more often the case, making sandwiches in some bento factory), than you will performing research. Going to Japan for a PhD is not exactly an easy decision to make (language barrier, social barrier, distance from family and friends), and the high scholarship should reflect the incentives for taking this decision.
Of course, Japan is not exactly in an economic golden age at the moment, but I think it would give much more bang to the buck if they reduced the number of scholarships, and improved the selection process.
Finally cutting the scholarship for those who are already mid-way through their courses is just a dickish move any way you see it.
Oh yeah, the situation gets tougher and tougher for people already studying there. It sucks that the carped is constantly being pulled. I guess that many students instead focusing on their studies, get a part time to complement the income. At least in Tokyo.
I agree with your remarks. I will add that it’s pathetic the 1000 Yen difference between a MSc and a PhD student because one has more responsibility than the other, and that the 2000 or 3000 Yen bonus for living in Tokyo is also pathetic because the cost of living in Tokyo compared with the rest of Japan is much higher than that. The merit of the candidates will have tendency to decrease and many will prefer to go to other places, at least the “more serious” candidates.
There is another point that many people seem to forget.
People say that the Monbukagakushou scholarship is one of the highest graduate scholarships. They are right. The MEXT certainly pays more than say, Fullbright or European scholarships.
But studying in Japan also has its price. Different language, different culture, walls to internationalization are some of the extra difficulties that graduate students will face in Japan. The higher value of Japanese scholarships reflect that Japan, even though a GREAT place to study, is a less desirable destination than the US or the EU.
Without counting tuition fees, and just counting the net amount that the PhD student receives the amounts that I know are:
Portugal (1000 EUR)
France (approx. 1400 EUR)
Spain (approx. 1200 EUR)
Italy (approx. 1200 EUR)
Belgium (1900 EUR plus benefits like transports, Christmas allowance, Holidays allowance, children allowance, healthcare).
Netherlands, Danmark, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland pay even better and a PhD student there is seen and paid as a worker (as it should be).
In absolute value these scholarships are not much lower than the Japanese Monbusho scholarship and the Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Switzerland scholarships largely surpass the Japanese scholarships in absolute value. If some people say that the Monbusho Scholarship is high, I would say that they are wrong because compared with other developed countries Japan doesn’t pay more.
Plus the factors that you spoke about make it harder for the student/worker to do his work successfully. Personally I think that Japan could make the program more serious, by demanding better output from the professors that have students under their supervision and in providing better conditions to the PhD students. As it is now I don’t think it attracts the best students, because those wil prefer to go to US and Europe, where they will find better working and living ($) conditions.
Oh well, that just drives the point further. Maybe this idea of the Monbushou scholarship being that high comes from a few years earlier, before the several cuts that happened.