Donations to support students facing financial difficulties due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

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To all supporters of Kyoto University,

As the global spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues, our ongoing fight against the virus must also continue. Despite the long-term nature of the crisis, Kyoto University is making its utmost efforts to continue fulfilling its institutional mission of contributing to society through education, research, and medical services. This unprecedented situation has, however, presented the University with severe funding difficulties.

In particular, many students are facing difficulties due to being forced to take their classes online. They cannot communicate directly with their teachers, and they are also unable to develop satisfying relationships with fellow students as they are unable to engage in extracurricular activities. Furthermore, some students are facing financial difficulties due to the virus's impact on their household income or due to a significant decrease in income from part-time employment. It is vital that we support such students financially to enable them to continue their education.

The Japanese government is currently providing financial support to students facing such difficulties, and Kyoto University has also launched its own Emergency Student Support Plan. The University's support plan includes emergency benefit-type scholarships, an expansion of tuition fee exemptions, the employment of graduate students as teaching assistants, the employment of undergraduate students as office assistants, and free lending of Wi-Fi routers for online classes.

The implementation of the University's support plan is anticipated to require approximately one billion yen in total for this fiscal year. We plan to implement the measures by utilizing government-provided student support funds as a supplement to the flexible use of university funds. However, this will still fall short of covering the entire cost.

For this reason, we have established the Fund for the Emergency Student Support Plan to seek donations to help ensure that students facing financial difficulties will not be forced to give up their studies, and we would like to ask all persons who are interested in supporting the University and its students to kindly make a donation to the fund.

We ask for your kind support and cooperation to help ensure that the next generation can thrive.

Juichi Yamagiwa
President
22 May 2020

To those who are considering a donation

Emergency Student Support Plan

Contact

  • Purpose of the Fund
    Scholarship Section
    Student Affairs Division
    Education Promotion and Student Support Department
    Tel:075-753-2536
  • About Kyoto University Fund
    Kyoto University Foundation Office
    Tel:075-753-2210