Japan has been providing long term scholarships to Sri Lanka since 2010 under the Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resources Development Scholarship (JDS) Programme.

The executive level public sector officials are bestowed, under the above programme, with the instrumental opportunity to undergo Master Degree Programmes in renowned universities in Japan to improve their capacity, knowledge and skills, the Department of External Resources said.

Going forward, since 2017, the government of Japan has introduced a Ph.D. program enhancing its assistance to the public sector strengthening in Sri Lanka, it added.