Critical Language Scholarships for Intensive Summer Institutes (CLS)

The United States Department of State is pleased to announce the upcoming scholarship competition for overseas intensive summer language institutes in thirteen critical need foreign languages for summer 2010. The critical languages are Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and 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. The United States Department of State is pleased to announce the upcoming scholarship competition for overseas intensive summer language institutes in thirteen critical need foreign languages for summer 2010. The critical languages are Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and 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.

The on-line application for CLS Program awards will be available Nov. 9, 2009, and the deadline to apply will be Dec. 18, 2009. The selection process will be administered by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) with awards approved by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The CLS Program will be administered by CAORC and the American Councils for International Education.

Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) provide group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to ten weeks. Levels available for each language are as follows:

* Arabic: Advanced beginning, intermediate or advanced level;
* Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Punjabi, Turkish, or Urdu: Beginning, intermediate or advanced level;
* Azerbaijani, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, or Russian: Intermediate or advanced level.

The CLS Program is part of 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. Participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.

Eligibility: All applicants must be U.S. citizens. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a U.S. degree-granting program at the undergraduate* or graduate level. All candidates must have completed at least their first year of university-level study by the summer of 2010. Students in all disciplines including business, engineering, sciences, social sciences and humanities are encouraged to apply.  (*Only graduate students and graduating seniors are eligible to apply to the summer 2010 Persian program.)

The U.S. Department of State and CAORC welcome all eligible applications and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, or handicap condition.

Grant Benefits: All CLS Program costs are covered for participants including: travel to and from the student's U.S. home city and program location, a mandatory Washington, D.C. pre-departure orientation, applicable visa fees, room, board, group-based intensive language instruction, program-sponsored travel within country, and all entrance fees for CLS Program cultural enhancement activities. Note: U.S. passport fees will not be paid by the scholarship. Selected applicants must have a U.S. passport valid through 2011 with at least two blank visa pages by early March 2010. Please plan in advance to avoid visa delays.

Source: Council of American Overseas Research Centers https://clscholarship.org/home.php