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Medical Elective Programme

 

Updated 28 February 2025

 

 

Medical Elective Programme
The Jikei University offers electives to students in their final year of study at medical school. The programme is observational and provides no formal teaching.

 

Eligibility and Duration of the Course
We offer electives lasting 4 weeks. Please see the Application Process. We are not always able to accommodate your placement. We will try to accommodate you in an elective of your choice, but if your requested specialties are not available, we will notify you.

 

Please note that we only accept applications from students whose nationality is on the list of those eligible for visa exemption provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Exemption of Visa (Short-Term Stay)

https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/short/novisa.html

(The exception is if students are enrolled at one of partnership universities.)

 

Elective fees
There are no elective course fees. Students will be responsible for all travel expenses.

 

Departments Available (Examples in 2024)

Dermatology

Emergency Medicine

Endoscopy

Internal Medicine (Gastroenterology/Hepatology)

Internal Medicine (Nephrology/Hypertension)

Internal Medicine (Oncology/Haematology)

Neurosurgery

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Orthopaedic Surgery

Otolaryngology

Paediatrics

Plastic Surgery

Radiology (Diagnostic)

Surgery (Gastrointenstinal Tract/Hepatobiliary Tract)

Surgery (Breast/Endocrine)

Surgery (Paediatric)

Surgery (Thoracic)

Surgery (Vascular)

Urology

 

 

 

Application Process

Application Form and Immunisation Form can be downloaded from below.

Application Form 　Application Form 　20 February 2025

 

Immunisation Form 　9 August 2024

Please send the following documents by email:

 

　1. Application Form
　2. Immunisation Form Parts I, II, and III
　3. Enrollment Certificate
　4. Academic Transcript
　5. Recommendation Letter from Dean
　6. Copy of Passport

 

* Caution: We can receive an email with a total file size of less than 10 MB. If the total file size is 10 MB or more, please send files through separate emails.

 

Your recommendation letter (5) must be signed by the dean, stamped with the university seal, and directly emailed by the dean to the following email address. The recommendation letter must state that you will be in your final year when participating in the elective. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

 

Please note that our policy is to accept no more than 2 students from a single university for each term (Autumn-Winter term and Spring-Summer term). We kindly require the dean not to recommend more than 2 students for each term. If we receive applications from more than 2 students of the same university, we may decline all of them, because we are unable to choose 1 or 2 students from among them. (The numbers of students accepted from partnership universities are arranged on the basis of the agreements.)

 

Apply to:

Centre for International Affairs

Email address: elective@jikei.ac.jp


After the application for the elective has been processed, we will notify you as to whether it is successful or not. Please note that we have a limited number of electives available.

Your confirmation to an offered elective must be sent by email. If you choose to withdraw from an accepted elective, please inform us immediately.

 

Once accepted, you cannot change the department of your elective.

If you are cancelling your elective after being accepted, please send a cancellation letter from the dean.

 

Please feel free to contact us (elective@jikei.ac.jp) if you need assistance or have questions.

 

When to Apply:
We accept applications only during the following period. (Except for students of partnership universities, who are nominated by their universities for our elective and apply on the basis of agreements.)

Autumn-Winter term

For Elective Period (start dates): 6 October 2025 to 2 March 2026

Application period: 28 April to 18 May 2025

 

Spring-Summer term

For Elective Period (start dates): 7 May 2026 to 28 September 2026

Application period will be announced in August 2025

 

Start and Final Dates:

Please note your elective period can start only on Monday and finish on Friday. However, if Monday is a national holiday, the elective will start on Tuesday. (Tuesday start dates: 14 October, 4 November, 25 November 2025, and 13 January 2026) If Friday is a national holiday, the elective will finish on Thursday. (Thursday finish date: 19 March 2026)

 

 

Your elective programme period cannot be started during these periods:

8-29 December 2025

6-27 April 2026

* Please confirm before submitting:

  • Duration of Elective: 4 weeks only. The elective starts on Monday (or on Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday) and finishes on Friday (or on Thursday if Friday is a national holiday). (The duration for students from partnership universities is set on the basis of the agreements.)
  • Recommendation Letter from Dean: Emailed to us directly from the dean. The Letter needs to include the verification that you will be a final-year student when participating in the elective.
  • Availability: Please note that we will decline your application, if we are unable to accommodate your request owing to the limited availability.
  • Application Period: All required documents must be submitted during the application period. Documents sent to us before or after the application period are not considered.

 

 

 

First Day of Your Elective

Upon your arrival, please come to the Centre for International Affairs (Ground floor, Daigaku Kanri-tou) at 9:30 am. If you will be late on your first day, please inform us as soon as possible, as this will affect the day’s scheduled activities.

You are also expected to bring your own white coat (and tie for male students) to wear during your elective period.

 

 

 

Accommodation, Insurance, and Occupational Health

Accommodation
Accommodations are close to the university and hospital. The fee is 10,000 JPY per week. Rooms are provided only to students of partnership universities, if available.

Please note that we are unable to assist in finding accommodations.

 

Insurance

It is obligatory for all overseas elective students to obtain liability insurance and health insurance. Please ensure that you are covered by insurance before coming to Japan. If you are not covered by insurance, you are responsible for paying any medical or liability costs.

 

Occupational Health

All applicants are asked to complete an Immunisation Form. It is not possible for students to have contact with patients until we have received proof that they are immune to the following: hepatitis B, tuberculosis, mumps, measles, rubella, and varicella (chickenpox). We strongly recommend that you are up to date with the above immunisations. Your clinical placement may be restricted if we think that you are a risk to the health and safety of patients or staff.

 

 

 

Contact

Centre for International Affairs

The Jikei University School of Medicine

3-25-8 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan

Email: elective@jikei.ac.jp

Tel: 81-(0)3-3433-1111

 

 

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