Graduate students won't be exempt from obligation to return scholarship money

Graduate students may no longer be exempt from the obligation to return scholarship funding.

This is part of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's "structural reform" which will transfer the management of the state scholarship program to an independent agency.

At present, if graduate students on scholarship become researchers or teachers, they will be exempt from paying back the money they received. 2,803 students used this system in 2000.

If the exemption clause is abolished, scholarship recipients will have to bear nearly 10 million yen (about 82,000 dollars) in debt when completing their doctorates.

The abolition will deal a heavy blow to those who want to be researchers and exercise adverse effects on academic development in Japan, Akahata of October 1 editorialized.

By abolishing the system, however, scholarship students for BA, MA, and PhD degrees in national universities will shoulder at least 8.3 million yen (about 68,000 dollars) in debt. For those who complete all courses in private universities, the amount will be 9.25 million yen (about 76,000 dollars).

A 31-year-old postdoctoral scholar in economics said, "Many may have to give up their studies, even though they are competent. P.M. Koizumi's 'structural reform' introduces the principle of the market mechanism into academic fields. With such a mechanism in place, students will tend to take short cuts in writing their theses, thus using less money. The number of students who conduct basic studies will decrease, I'm afraid." (end)