CLS semifinalists, check your email! Notification messages for the 2024 CLS Program have been sent! We applaud all applicants for their commitment to language learning and congratulate the finalists and alternates selected from an impressive pool of over 5,000 applicants.
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.
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.
CLS Spark, an initiative of the CLS Program, provides opportunities for American undergraduate college and university students to study Arabic, Chinese and Russian virtually at the beginning level.
Designed to leverage best practices in online language learning, CLS Spark provides students with the opportunity to study critical languages virtually when they may not have access to studying these languages on their campuses.
What Alumni Say About the CLS Program
Key Benefits
Develop Key Expertise
The CLS Program provides its scholars
intensive language and cultural instruction
in an environment designed to maximize
their language gains at every level.
Career Ready Skills
Alumni apply their critical language
skills in a variety of professional fields
in public and private sectors as well as
government, helping to support America’s
competitiveness across the board.
Citizen Diplomacy
CLS scholars represent the breadth
and diversity of the United States.
Through personal engagement they
help to spread American values and
develop mutual understanding with
the people of other countries.
CLS News and Stories
A Mom Away from Home
A reflection by Kirk Preston, CLS Japanese Scholar and Digital Ambassador
May 10, 2024
Celebrating Arab American Heritage Month with CLS Alumni
April is Arab American Heritage Month, during which we honor the significant achievements, deep-rooted history, and invaluable contributions of Arab Americans to the United States. In celebration of Arab American Heritage Month, the CLS Program connected with two alumni, Wajahat Mohiuddin and Mehre…
April 29, 2024
Celebrating Women’s History Month with CLS Alumnae
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, the CLS Program is shining a spotlight on three inspiring and entrepreneurial CLS Turkish alumnae: Isabelle McRae, Keyia Yalcin, and Sydney Ribot. Isabelle is a multilingual development consultant based in London, one of her recent projects, translating Tu…
March 28, 2024
