Kobe University Admission 2027: Deadlines, Requirements, Fees for International Students

Admission at a glance

Kobe University is one of Japan's older national universities, founded from a commercial college in Kobe and now organised into faculties covering law, economics, business administration, science, engineering, medicine, agriculture, maritime sciences and international cooperation studies. International applicants who want to study fully in English have the clearest path at graduate level. The Kobe International Master's/MBA Programs, known as KIMAP, run in the Graduate School of Economics, the Graduate School of Law and the Graduate School of Business Administration, and teach entirely in English over two years with intakes in both April and October. The Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, GSICS, admits its master's students once a year in October and also teaches in English. None of these graduate routes publish a minimum TOEFL or IELTS score; instead they ask every applicant to submit a score and then weigh it alongside transcripts, a research plan, letters of recommendation and an interview. Undergraduate teaching at Kobe is conducted mainly in Japanese. The Faculty of Global Human Sciences and other faculties admit a small number of international students each year, but these applicants still need Japanese sufficient to follow lectures, so there is no general English-medium bachelor's degree with a published international deadline. Tuition for both undergraduate and graduate study follows the national university standard rate.

Requirements

Bachelor

Most undergraduate places at Kobe University are taught in Japanese and require Japanese language ability sufficient to follow lectures, alongside the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU) or a faculty entrance examination. Kobe has not published a general English-taught bachelor's degree with an international application deadline.

Master

KIMAP (Economics, Law, Business Administration) and GSICS admit international students to English-taught master's programmes. Applicants need a bachelor's degree or equivalent, a research plan or statement of purpose, academic transcripts, letters of recommendation and an English test score (TOEFL iBT, TOEIC or IELTS). No minimum score is published; the faculties review applications holistically.

Full requirements and documents