Critical Language Scholarship Program | Homepage
  • Oct 04, 2024

    Apply for the 2025 CLS Program!

    Apply now to learn a critical language next summer with the 2025 CLS Program!

  • Sep 05, 2024

    Announcing 2024-2025 CLS Refresh!

    The CLS Program is pleased to announce another cycle of CLS Refresh, a funded language learning opportunity for CLS alumni.

  • Aug 31, 2024

    Grace Wheeler on Making the Most of CLS Spark

    CLS Spark Chinese scholar Grace shares her tips on getting the most out of CLS Spark.

The application for the 2025 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is now open.

Start or continue your application here.

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 a dozen 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, Korean, Japanese, 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.

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and supported in its implementation by American Councils for International Education.


What Alumni Say About the CLS Program


Key Benefits

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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.

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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.

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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

Alumni Profile: Josh Phillips
Josh Phillips participated in the 2023 CLS Spark for Arabic hosted by the TAFL Center in Alexandria, Egypt and the 2024 CLS Arabic Program hosted by the Jordan Language Academy in Amman, Jordan. He is a recent graduate from Mississippi State University (MSU) where he studied Political Science,…

October 08, 2024


Apply for the 2025 CLS Program!
We are pleased to announce that the application is now open for the 2025 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program! We welcome American undergraduate and graduate students to apply now to learn a critical language next summer on a funded language and cultural enrichment program. The CLS Program…

October 04, 2024


Alumni Profile: Hunter Linton
Hunter Linton participated in the 2023 CLS Portuguese Program hosted by Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hunter is a recent graduate from Boston College, where he majored in Economics and Hispanic Studies. He plans to apply his CLS experience and Portuguese skills to a care…

September 30, 2024


Alumni Profile: Kirk Preston
Kirk Preston participated in the 2023 CLS Japanese Program hosted by Okayama University in Okayama, Japan. Kirk graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and International Studies. He currently works at Deloitte as a Risk & Financial Advis…

September 30, 2024


CLS in the Press

Scholar learns that ‘language links us all’

Political science undergrad Cooper Baldwin wins prestigious U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to learn ‘one of the most critical languages for future United States policy’

Shared from Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine, September 05, 2024


Ashley Wilson: Living and learning in Japan thanks to national scholarship

Ashley Wilson, a rising senior double majoring in economics and international affairs with a concentration in comparative politics at the University of Maine, spent the summer living and learning in Japan as a participant in the competitive Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) program.

Shared from , September 05, 2024


Taking Flight: Priscilla Riggs’ Journey Towards a Global Education

Priscilla Riggs is a young woman ready to embrace the myriad opportunities that come with exploring new and different spaces around the world.

Shared from , August 26, 2024