Critical Language Scholarship Program | Homepage
  • Mar 17, 2025

    Announcing the 2025 CLS Program Awards

    Congratulations to the nearly 600 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students selected for the 2025 CLS Program!

  • Mar 06, 2025

    The Critical Importance of Learning a Foreign Language in the Military

    This blog is written by CLS alumnus Hyunbean Park, an Army Officer and alumnus of the 2024 CLS Russian Program.

  • Mar 06, 2025

    The Critical Importance of Learning a Foreign Language in the Military

    This blog is written by CLS alumnus Hyunbean Park, an Army Officer and alumnus of the 2024 CLS Russian Program.

Finalist notification messages for the 2025 CLS Program and CLS Spark are out now. Congratulations to the nearly 600 students selected. Read more about the 2025 CLS Program Awards here.

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program provides fully funded immersive summer programs for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to learn languages of strategic importance to the United States’ national security, economic prosperity, and engagement with the world.


Each summer, over 500 American students enrolled at colleges and universities across the United States spend approximately eight weeks studying one of a dozen languages either overseas or virtually. Participants gain the equivalent of one year of language study, as the CLS Program maximizes language and cultural instruction in an intensive environment.

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.

Since its inception in 2006, the CLS Program has supported nearly 10,000 participants to gain critical language skills and intercultural competence, which are in demand in a globalized workforce and increase a student’s competitiveness across career fields. CLS alumni represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

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 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: Vinny Nguyen
Vinny Nguyen participated in the 2024 CLS Spark Mandarin program hosted by the LTL School in Singapore. This summer, he is continuing his language studies as part of the 2025 CLS Mandarin cohort in Taipei, Taiwan. Nguyen is currently pursuing a BS in political science and economics. His professiona…

July 12, 2025


Alumni Profile: Raven Miller
Raven Miller participated in the 2022 CLS Spark Russian Program, the 2023 CLS Russian Program hosted by the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the 2024 CLS Russian Program hosted by Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. She recently graduated with a BA in linguisti…

July 12, 2025


Alumni Profile: Nisreen Kalai
Nisreen Kalai participated in the 2023 CLS Spark Arabic Program hosted by the TAFL Center of Alexandria University in Alexandria, Egypt and the 2024 CLS Arabic Program hosted by the Noor Majan Arabic Institute in Nizwa, Oman. Nisreen is a recent graduate from New College of Florida and studied…

July 12, 2025


Alumni Profile: Kahiwa Sachs
Kahiwa Sachs participated in the 2024 CLS Arabic Program hosted by Noor Majan Daaris Institute in Nizwa, Oman. She recently graduated with a BA in international relations and an Arabic minor from the University of Iowa. Kahiwa plans to pursue a master’s degree in urban and regional planning and hop…

July 12, 2025


CLS in the Press

A year of milestones for national scholarships at UND

UND celebrates exceptional number of students honored with national scholarships.

Shared from University of North Dakota, June 17, 2025


Nicholas Dotson Awarded Prestigious Critical Language Scholarship

Nicholas Dotson, a student in the Executive M.S. in International Relations, has been selected for the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program, marking an exciting new chapter in his academic and professional journey.

Shared from Seton Hall University, June 16, 2025


Found in translation

Blue Hen Makenzie Dowlin receives Critical Language Scholarship to study Swahili in Tanzania

Shared from University of Delaware, June 11, 2025