Young Leader's (LL.M.) Program

The Young Leaders' Program (YLP) was established in 2001 as a one-year Master’s level program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in the fields of Public Administration, Business Administration and Law. Kyushu University teaches the law program, with Public Administration and Business Administration taught at GRIPs and Hitotsubashi University respectively.

The YLP in Law is open to legal professionals from designated Asian countries. The program aims to contribute to the fostering of future national leaders in Asian countries. In addition, while deepening the participants' understanding of Japan, it aims to form a network of national leaders who will play a key role in establishing friendly relations and improved policy planning among Asian countries including Japan

In 2002, the inaugural year of the program, Kyushu University invited 10 international students from 9 countries of China, Korea, Lao P.D.R., Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines, and Vietnam.

All students will be expected to complete a 20-credit (approx. five courses per semester) curriculum and submit a Master’s Thesis.

Courses offered within the framework of the YLP program are grouped around four key themes:

• Global Governance and Corporations
• Economic and Business Law in Asia
• Innovation and the Law
• Fundamental Perspectives on Economic and Business Law

The full list of YLP available courses is available here.

The YLP Program is taught on a full time basis and takes 12 months for completion, beginning in October every year and ending in September of the following year.

Each student will be sent to a law firm for 2 weeks to experience lawyer's work in Japan. The interns will attend court hearings, accompany the lawyers for consultation and reconciliation with clients, and write legal documents.