Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)

The CLS Program provides opportunities for American college and university students to study languages and cultures essential to America’s engagement with the world.

Each summer, American undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities across the country, spend eight to ten weeks learning one of thirteen languages at an intensive study abroad institute. The CLS Program is designed to promote rapid language gains and essential intercultural fluency in regions that are critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity.