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Medical Elective Programme

 

Updated 16 March 2026

 

 

Medical Elective Programme

The Jikei University offers its Medical Elective Programme to students in their final year of medical school. The electives are 4 weeks long and only observational.

 

Eligibility for the Programme

Students who are accepted through the application process (see Application Process) are eligible to participate in the Programme. We will do our best to accommodate you with electives you prefer but are not always able to do so. If your requested departments are not available, we will notify you.

 

Please note that we accept applications from only students whose nationality is on the list of those eligible for visa exemption provided by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (The exception is if a student is enrolled at a partnership university.)

 

Exemption of Visa (Short-Term Stay)

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

 

Elective fees

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

 

 

 

Departments Available (Examples in 2025)

Dermatology

Emergency and Disaster 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 (Gastrointestinal Tract/Hepatobiliary Tract)

Surgery (Breast/Endocrine)

Surgery (Paediatric)

Surgery (Thoracic)

Urology

 

 

 

Application Process

Application Form and Immunisation Form can be downloaded from below.

Application Form 　Application Form 　20 February 2025

 

Immunisation Form 　25 August 2025

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 the Dean of your medical school
　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 to recommend no more than 2 students for each term. If we receive applications for a single term from more than 2 students of the same university, we might not accept any of the students, 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, The Jikei University School of Medicine

Email address: elective@jikei.ac.jp


* The Process from Application Submission to Acceptance:

1. After your application for the Elective Programme has been received, we will notify you as to whether it is being processed.

2. Please note that we have a limited number of electives available.

3. If you have been accepted for an elective, an offer will be emailed to you.

4. If you agree to participate in the offered elective, you must respond to the email within 1 week.

5. If you have agreed to participate in the offered elective, we will issue a Certificate of Entitlement.

6. Once you have received the Certificate of Entitlement, the department and the period of your elective cannot be changed.

7. If you have to cancel your participation due to unforeseen circumstances after receiving the Certificate of Entitlement, a cancellation letter must be sent by your Dean.

 

When to Apply:
We accept applications only during the following periods. (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): 5 October 2026 to 1 March 2027

Application period: 11 to 29 May 2026

 

Spring-Summer term

For Elective Period (start dates): 31 May 2027 to 27 September 2027

Application period will be announced in August 2026

Start and Final Dates:

Please note that your elective period can start only on a Monday and finish on a Friday. However, if a Monday is a national holiday, the elective will start on the following Tuesday. (Tuesday start dates: 13 October 2026, 24 November 2026, and 12 January 2027)

 

* Your Elective Programme period cannot be started during these periods:

7 December 2026-4 January 2027
5 April 2027-24 May 2027

* Apply individually:

We do not accept a group application. Each application must be submitted individually. In principle, we do not offer electives to 2 students of the same university to a single department at the same time.

 

* Please confirm before submitting:

Duration of Elective: 4 weeks for 1 department only. (You cannot apply for several 4-week programmes.) The elective starts on a Monday (or on the following Tuesday if the Monday is a national holiday) and finishes on a Friday. (The duration for students from partnership universities is set on the basis of the agreements.)

 

Recommendation Letter from the Dean: Emailed to us directly from the Dean. The Letter must verify 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 of electives. We are unable to provide availability information in advance, because electives are made available by each department only after an application has been received.

 

Application Period: All required documents must be submitted during the application period (see When to Apply). Documents submitted 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 10:30 am. If you will be late on your first day, please inform us as soon as possible, as the day’s scheduled activities will be affected.

You are also expected to bring a white coat or scrubs to wear during your elective period.

 

 

 

Dormitories, Insurance, and Occupational Health

Dormitories

Dormitories close to the university and hospital are provided, if available, to students of only partnership universities.

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

 

Insurance

Overseas elective students are required 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 the Immunisation Form (see Application Process). Students cannot be accepted for the Programme until we have received proof that they have been immunised for the following illnesses: measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox), hepatitis B, and tuberculosis. We strongly recommend ensuring that you are up to date with the above immunisations.

 

 

 

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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