Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) institutes provide fully-funded group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for eight to ten weeks for U.S. citizen undergraduate, Master ’s and Ph.D. students.

Languages Offered:

• Arabic
• Azerbaijani
• Bangla
• Chinese
• Hindi
• Indonesian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Persian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Swahili
• Turkish
• Urdu

Countries may include: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Russia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, or others where the target languages are spoken.

To be eligible for the CLS Program you must:

• Be a U.S. citizen or national at the time of application.
• Others, including Permanent Residents, are not eligible, even if they anticipate naturalization by the beginning of the program.
• Be at least 18 years old by May 15, 2023.
• Be enrolled in an accredited U.S. degree-granting program at the undergraduate (associate, bachelor's) or graduate (master's, doctoral, professional degree) level at the time of application.
• Applicants must be enrolled in a program that results in a degree. Applicants who are taking stand-alone or continuing education classes are not eligible.
• Applicants must be enrolled at an accredited U.S. institution. Students earning degrees at foreign institutions that are not based in the U.S. or its territories are not eligible, even if those institutions are accredited by a recognized U.S. accrediting agency.
• Applicants in an undergraduate program (associate or bachelor's) must complete at least one full year of study (two semesters or three quarters) by the beginning of the CLS Program in Summer 2023.
• Applicants must be enrolled at this institution in the fall term of 2022. There are limited exceptions to the enrollment requirement; please read the following information carefully:
• If applicants are not taking classes at their home institution in the fall term, they should confirm that they are, in fact, enrolled. Institutions have different requirements to maintain enrollment status and applicants will be required to provide a signed letter from their registrar stating that you were enrolled during the fall term.
• If applicants are taking a leave of absence to participate in an organized term- or year-long study abroad program, or to participate in a substantive internship program, they may request an exception to the enrollment requirement. Exceptions may only be granted in these two cases, and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
• In either case, applicants must submit a signed letter from their home college or university in the U.S. explaining their situation and their intent to re-enroll following the completion of their study abroad or internship program. They must also submit documentation from the program provider explaining the opportunity and confirming their participation. This documentation may be submitted to American Councils by email at cls@americancouncils.org.
• Applicants must successfully complete academic requirements for the fall term in order to remain eligible for the CLS Program. Applicants who withdraw or fail to maintain a passing grade average are not eligible to participate in the program.

• Applicants must meet the language requirements of the program to which they apply.
• Applicants may only apply once, for one language, each year. Applicants who submit multiple applications will be considered ineligible.

• freshman
• sophomore
• junior
• senior
• graduate

• US Citizen

Applications available online 

The CLS Program is part of the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), a U.S. government interagency effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical need foreign languages. Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. Former CLS participants have applied with various academic backgrounds including business, engineering, law, science, medicine, social sciences and humanities. The CLS Program does not have any government service requirement upon completion, however, it is expected that participants will continue to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period and later apply their critical language skills in their future academic and professional careers.