Government Funded Language Study Opportunities
Government Funded Language Study
The U.S. government funds the Critical Language Scholarship and the Boren Awards to support undergraduate students interested in language study abroad.
Penn Abroad can provide advice, guidance, and application assistance to undergraduate students interested in the Critical Language Scholarship. Penn Abroad also reviews undergraduate applications to the Boren Awards. Graduate students interested in applying to the Critical Language Scholarship or Boren Graduate Fellowship are encouraged to apply through the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships.
Critical Language Scholarship
About
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a fully funded summer overseas language and cultural immersion program for American undergraduate and graduate students. The CLS Program overseas offers instruction in nine critical languages, including Hindi, Persian, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian. CLS provides opportunities for students from across the United States at every level of language learning. CLS is funded by the U.S. Department of State.
Program Length
8 weeks over the summer
Deadline
Annually in November. Visit the CLS Website for this cycle’s deadline.
Application Process
While the Critical Language Scholarship does not require Penn’s nomination, Penn Abroad can provide advice, guidance, and application assistance to interested undergraduate students by contacting Greta Kazenski at kazenski@upenn.edu. Interested Graduate students can apply with assistance from the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships.
Boren Awards
About
The Boren Scholarship supports undergraduate study abroad focusing on geographical areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to US national security. These US government grants entail a service obligation. Boren Awards are an initiative of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO).
Boren offers two Regional Flagship Initiatives focused on African Languages (AFLI) for the study of French, Swahili, Akan/Twi, Wolof, or Zulu or Southeast Asian Languages (SEAFLI) for the study of Indonesian, Thai, or Vietnamese. In the Flagship Initiatives, students study the language intensively over the summer domestically in a cohort program. During the fall semester immediately following the intensive summer study, students travel with their cohort to study the language in the country/region where the target language is spoken.
Note: students applying for AFLI for French in Senegal must have an intermediate-high or greater proficiency which will be verified through testing.
If students are accepted to the Regional Flagship Initiative, they would have to apply for a Penn Abroad petition program to stay enrolled as a Penn student and earn academic credit.
Boren applicants may also ‘Select your Own Study Abroad Program’ which would be in conjunction with the regularly offered Penn Abroad semester or year study abroad programs.
Program length
Varies, so visit the Boren website for more information. Boren prioritizes students who intend to study abroad for a full academic year.
Application Process
To be competitive, applicants should meet with Greta Kazenski during the fall semester. Email kazenski@upenn.edu to schedule an appointment.
Penn has an internal application deadline of December 10. Students should upload their essays on the Boren portal but do not submit. Penn Abroad will download applicants’ essay materials for review and will provide feedback that may be incorporated before the final submission deadline.
Penn Abroad will organize a review committee to meet with the applicant in January. During this interview, the committee will learn more about the applicant and provide constructive feedback to improve the applicant’s essay. Penn Abroad will utilize the information collected during the interview to submit a Campus Evaluation to the Boren Awards reviewers.
Applicants may apply independently of the Penn Abroad process if they are unable to meet the December 10 deadline, but will not receive a Campus Evaluation.