In the last ten years, UAE-Japan educational partnership has steadily increased, motivated by the 2013 memorandum of understanding between the late Prime Minister ABE Shinzo and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to increase cooperation in education.
Since then, Emirati students have been taking degrees in Japan in strategic areas such as environmental science, mechanical engineering and business administration. One of the longest-lasting symbols of this alliance is the Japanese School in Abu Dhabi. The school was founded in 1978 but started accepting Emirati students in 2006 at the behest of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.
In 2021, it marked a significant milestone with the graduation of its first Emirati students, who went on to pursue their studies at Tokai University in Japan. The expansion of Japanese language learning throughout UAE high schools and universities has also increasingly enhanced mutual understanding and academic cooperation between the two nations. Continuing from where it left off, the Japanese Government is currently accepting applications for the 2026 MEXT Scholarship Program from its Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
Open to UAE nationals, the scholarship has two tracks Undergraduate and Research and is comprised of full tuition fees, a monthly stipend, and round-trip airfare to Japan. Initiated in the UAE in 1990, with the first Emirati scholar going to Japan in 1991, the MEXT Scholarship has now become a foundation of academic and cultural exchange between the two countries.
Every year, the program invites Emirati applicants to pursue a variety of disciplines, ranging from medicine, dentistry, and veterinary science to pharmaceuticals studies.
