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KYOTO — The Faculty of Science at Kyoto University will establish a scholarship fund to ease the first-year rent of women enrolling from distant locations.
The 300,000-yen (about $1,925) scholarship will be implemented from the 2026 academic year to address the higher rent costs of apartments with enhanced security features such as auto-locks, intercoms with monitors, security cameras and on-site managers.
Over the past five years, the number of female students admitted to the faculty was 30 in 2025, 35 in 2024, 24 in 2023, 33 in 2022 and 21 in 2021, proportions of 9.55%, 11.25%, 7.43%, 10.15% and 6.46%, respectively.
In the 2025 academic year, 664 women were admitted across all faculties, a ratio of 22.89%. The Faculty of Science had the lowest percentage of female students even compared to other science-related faculties such as Medicine (36.07%), Pharmaceutical Sciences (31.76%), Agriculture (30.94%) and Engineering (12.19%), prompting considerations for improvements.
Details, including eligibility requirements, will be announced in mid-January 2026 with the basis for the approximately 300,000-yen support amount and the budget scale going undisclosed during a recent interview.
(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Ota, Kyoto Bureau)
