- Travel Policy
- International Research & Internship Opportunities
- International Institute Fund for U-M Conferences and Workshops
- Boren Scholarship for International Study
- Boren Fellowships for International Study
- Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship
- Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)
- Fulbright U.S. Student Program
- Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
- Fulbright UK Summer Institutes
- Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad (FRA) Fellowships
- US/ED Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowships
The 2026 CLS Program Application will open in fall 2025. Applications are due in mid-November.
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an immersive summer opportunity for American college and university students to learn languages 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 fourteen 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.
Languages offered: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu
Eligibility Criteria
Be a U.S. citizen or national at the time of application.
Be at least 18 years old by May 15, 2026.
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 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 2026.
Applicants may only apply once, for one language, each year. Applicants who submit multiple applications will be considered ineligible.
More details on eligibility: clscholarship.org/applicants/eligibility
Review Process
The U-M International Institute will provide feedback to any draft documents submitted to the iifellowships@umich.edu email address no later than October 15th.
The Critical Language Scholarship Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. It is supported in its implementation by American Councils for International Education.
