Every year UNU-IAS organises the regular session of its four-week UNU Intensive Core (UNU-IC) Courses at UNU Centre in Tokyo, Japan. The courses are designed to provide analyses of global issues from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Although advanced in nature, they are open to postgraduate students and professionals in various occupations who are not necessarily specialists in the field. The courses also draw on the research projects undertaken at UNU-IAS in Tokyo and at various other UNU institutes located around the world.
The Autumn 2021 session of the UNU-IC Courses will run from 1 – 29 September 2021.
The application deadline is 1 August 2021 (Extended).
※Application may be closed if the number of the application would reach our capacity
For more information, please click here.
Your official application must be submitted through the online application form.
Further instructions can be found here.
The IC Courses are taught in a cooperative fashion by a team of scholars and practitioners comprising both in-house and outside experts. One of the unique features of the IC is that many of the practitioners come from United Nations organizations. Another important characteristic is the direct access to teaching faculty and the support provided to course participants by the UNU-IAS in-house academic staff who serve as academic counsellors. Because it shares a building with many UN agencies, UNU-IAS offers a unique learning environment.
The UNU Library offers access to a wide range of academic books, over 20,000 electronic journals, official UN documents, and publications in the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development e-libraries. All students will receive a comprehensive library orientation session at the beginning of the course.
UNU-IAS assists students throughout the courses, acknowledging that students may experience difficulties. Detailed information will be provided to successful applicants.
These courses are designed for:
JPY 200,000 per course
Excellent written and verbal English language skills are required. Applicants whose first language is not English and whose bachelor’s degree is not from an institution at which English is the language of instruction must submit proof of English language proficiency within the past two years. The minimum score requirements for TOEFL or IELTS are:
The following applicants are exempt from submitting a score sheet:
The application deadline is 1 August 2021 (Extended).
Your official application must be submitted through the online application form.
Detailed instructions can be found here.
Note:
All of the application and related documents should be prepared in English.
Please attach official/certified translations where necessary.
Due to the current situation of the COVID-19, the UNU-IAS provides the courses remotely via the Zoom video conference system. Please ensure the following before applying.
Computer and internet connection:
– You will need to have regular access to a laptop or computer, with a reliable internet connection of high-speed broadband for the optimal learning experience by using Zoom.
– Basic equipment such as a speaker, microphone, and webcam are necessary to maximize your learning from the courses.
Time Zone:
– Lectures will be transmitted from Japan (local time: UTC+9), meaning there may be issues with the time difference from your location.
The three IC Courses provide students with a solid grounding in the essential theories and multilateral approaches to issues of sustainability and development while emphasising interdisciplinary perspectives.
Students are allowed to choose two courses maximum. There will be fifteen 90-minute sessions per course — i.e., three to four sessions per week over the four-week course period. The courses will involve considerable reading and study but will be scheduled to allow students to have sufficient preparatory and review time for each session.
Students who successfully complete the course will be awarded a certificate of completion and a transcript from UNU-IAS. Each course is designed to be worth 2 credits and comprises over 30 hours of teaching time. While a number of universities have negotiated credit transfer agreements with UNU-IAS, ultimately the decision on whether credits are transferrable will be made by the student’s university.
There are approximately fifteen 90-minute sessions per course — i.e., three sessions of courses each day (10:00–11:30, 12:30–14:00 and 14:30–16:00), though no single course will take the entire three sessions of one day.
For each course, students must complete the following requirements:
IC Secretariat (icsec@unu.edu)