2025.2.12 (wed)
Unicage Scholarship 3rd batch application begins
Applications are now open for the Unicage Scholarship IT Fundamentals Course!
Applications are now open for the "IT Basics Course," which is a prerequisite for applying for the "Unicage Scholarship," which has been implemented since fiscal year 2023.
The "Unicage Scholarship" is a system that provides grant-type scholarships to national high school students with support from Universal Shell Programming Laboratory LLC (hereinafter referred to as USP Laboratory), based on the firm desire for high school students to acquire IT skills and techniques that can be used in society.
To become a scholarship student, students must take the "IT Basics Course" for which USP Research Institute provides teaching materials and a learning environment, and pass a certification exam that serves as the final exam.
In the IT Basics Course, you can acquire basic knowledge of Linux/Web, which will be useful in practical work. This knowledge can be immediately used in creating experimental equipment and systems at technical colleges, automating analysis and reporting, etc. In addition, although this course focuses on Linux, the principles and development methods and their "etiquette" that you will learn here can be applied to any programming language or system, and will be a lifelong skill that will be useful to you.
Tuition for the courses and examination fees are free.
We welcome applications from students majoring in information technology as well as students from other fields.
Please apply for the course using the URL below (you will be redirected to the application form set up by the USP Institute).
https://exam.usp-lab.com/entry
The entry period is from Monday, February 2rd to Monday, June 3th. As soon as your application is confirmed, you will receive the study materials and course information from the USP Laboratory via email, so you can start taking the course immediately. The exam will be conducted online. It will be scheduled three times from August to the end of September, so you can take the exam at your convenience.
This course is expected to take about 3-6 months to complete. If you are interested in taking this opportunity to try out this course, we recommend that you register as early as possible and use your spring break to study for the course.
In addition, if you have previously applied but were unable to complete the course, if you did not achieve the results you hoped for in the certification exam, or if you would like to take your time and study, you can try again as many times as you like, so please apply.
~ Feedback from participants of the IT Basics Course ~
- Although I have been doing a lot of development using the terminal for some time, this course made me realize that there is still a lot I don't know.
- It was very different from what I had learned in the Department of Information Engineering, so I struggled a lot, but on the other hand, I learned that from the perspective of corporate development and team development, it can result in improved efficiency overall, which I found very interesting.
- I was glad that I could actually use the server. I learned how to operate Ubuntu, which was very helpful for my machine learning research.
- It was very helpful to be able to study server-side knowledge in a fairly unified manner.
- Due to time constraints, I was only able to tackle the beginning, but the content was quite substantial and it was similar to the operations used in vscode at school.
~Message from USP Research Institute~
Recently, it has become a problem that Japan's digital competitiveness has been declining year by year. It has been pointed out that the background to this is the delay in the development of digital talent and the misconception that "IT talent can only thrive in specific fields." However, in reality, IT skills are in demand in every business field, and talent that can advance digitalization is important even in general companies.
In this IT Basics Course, you will acquire basic IT skills, which will be useful not only for your future as an engineer, but also for improving the competitiveness of Japan as a whole. We also hope that by passing the certification exam, you will gain confidence and be able to use it in your career development.
In particular, achieving in-house development of information systems within companies is important in strengthening Japan's industrial competitiveness. I hope that you will utilize the IT skills you learn in this course to play an active role in a wide range of situations. (USP Research Institute Chief Technology Officer Silunen Buyanjargal (2007 graduate of Sasebo National College of Technology))
Unicage Scholarship Implementation Status
About the second scholarship recipients
In 300, over 13 people took this course, and XNUMX students from technical colleges were selected as scholarship recipients after passing the certification exam.
To celebrate the passing of the certification exam and the selection of the scholarship recipients, the "2024 IT Basics Course Successful Candidates Announcement" was held online on December 2024, 12, sponsored by the USP Institute. here.You can see from.
<FY2024 IT Basics Course Enrollment Status>
| Bachelor | Advanced course | Total | |||||||
| school year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Number of participants (persons) | 39 | 68 | 57 | 59 | 35 | 34 | 10 | 302 | (43 technical colleges) |
| Number of people who passed the certification exam | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | (10 technical colleges) |
Unicage Scholarship Overview
(1) Application qualifications
- Students who have taken the IT Basics Course and passed the certification exam that is conducted as a summary of the course, and who are in the top 60 in terms of grades (regardless of grades, grades, household financial situation, etc. at the time of application)
(2) Number of employees
・Maximum of 50 people for the entire organization (no limit on number per school/campus)
(3) Benefit amount
・240,000 yen per year for main course students, 360,000 yen per year for major courses
(4) Payment period
・Fiscal Year 2025 and 2026
However, if you graduate from the undergraduate course in 2025 (excluding those who advance to a specialized course at your current school) or complete the specialized course in that year, the period will be until the end of that year.
(5) Obligations after being selected as a scholarship student
- USP Research Institute will conduct online interviews twice a year.
・You must participate in events hosted by the USP Institute at least twice a year.