Kanazawa University Admission Guide for International Students

Kanazawa University at a glance

Kanazawa University is a national university — officially National University Corporation Kanazawa University — based in Kakuma-cho, Kanazawa City, the historic castle city of Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast in the Hokuriku region. That gives it a distinctly regional identity away from the largest metropolitan areas, in a city known for traditional culture and gardens.

The university spans the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and medical and health sciences, and its main campus is at Kakuma. As a national university, its admissions are structured around official examination routes that differ by program, rather than a single common application.

The official international admission routes

Kanazawa's official admissions page lists two entrance examination routes specifically for international students: an Overseas Recommended International Student Admission (在外留学生推薦入試) and a Privately-Financed International Student Admission (私費外国人留学生入試). If you are applying from abroad, these are the routes to read first, and the university's published application guidelines (募集要項) are the authoritative source for eligibility, subjects, documents and deadlines.

One point of clarification, because the acronym appears prominently on Kanazawa's admissions pages: KUGS stands for the Kanazawa University "Global" Standard — the university's statement of the abilities it aims to develop in students. The related KUGS Special Entrance Examination is an admission route for those who complete Kanazawa's KUGS high-school–university connection program, linked to its affiliated senior high school. It is a high-school articulation route rather than a general pathway for international applicants, so do not plan an overseas application around it. Verify which route applies to you on the official site.

• Overseas Recommended International Student Admission
• Privately-Financed International Student Admission
• KUGS Special Entrance Examination — a high-school articulation route, not a general international route

Language of instruction — check before you apply

This is the step that most often trips up applicants. Most of Kanazawa's undergraduate teaching is in Japanese, and you should not assume a program is English-taught because the university has an international profile. Even the School of International Studies — founded in 2008 and focused on understanding international society — states that some courses allow students to learn in English, alongside teaching in Japanese; that is not the same as a fully English-taught degree.

Kanazawa participates in national internationalization efforts and publishes information about English-medium opportunities, with more options generally found at graduate level than at undergraduate level. Rather than relying on any summary, the essential first step is to confirm, program by program and level by level, exactly which courses and degrees are delivered in English on the official Kanazawa University pages, and to contact the relevant school or graduate school if the language of instruction is unclear.

Japanese-track admission and the EJU

For programs taught in Japanese, international students typically apply through routes for privately financed international students that draw on the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU) and, in many cases, a university examination or interview. Each faculty sets its own subjects and eligibility, so treat the specific program's official requirements as authoritative.

If you plan a Japanese-track application, build in realistic time to prepare the EJU and any required Japanese-language evidence, and check which EJU subjects your target program requires — these differ across faculties and can change between cycles.

A note for students considering medicine

Kanazawa University has medical and health-science faculties, but clinical medicine programs are generally taught in Japanese and are highly competitive. This guide does not rank medical schools or assess the quality of any program.

If you are an Indian student considering medicine abroad, remember that Indian requirements apply both to studying medicine overseas and to practising in India afterward — including NEET, the National Medical Commission's rules, and screening such as the FMGE/NExT. Verify these on the official Indian sources (nmc.org.in, neet.nta.nic.in, natboard.edu.in). No one can guarantee you a seat, recognition of a foreign degree, or a licence to practise — treat any "guaranteed admission" or "guaranteed recognition" claim as a warning sign of a scam.

Fees, scholarships and the student visa

Tuition, application fees, scholarships and deadlines at a national university are set officially and vary by year, so no figures are listed here — verify them on Kanazawa University's official pages, and confirm any scholarship eligibility directly rather than through third parties.

Admitted degree students normally study in Japan on the "Student" status of residence, arranged via a Certificate of Eligibility. This is general information, not immigration advice — confirm current procedures on the official Immigration Services Agency of Japan and Study in Japan portals.