Critical Language Scholarship Program

The 15 critical languages are Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu.

Undergraduate students must have completed at least one year of general college course-work by the start date of the program.

The scholarship is open to students in all disciplines, including business, engineering, law, medicine, sciences, and humanities.

There is also no discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, or disability in choosing awardees.

In addition, CLS participants engage in a variety of language enhancement activities, including conversation partners, guest lectures, film viewings, host family visits (some sites), and cultural excursions.

Program-led excursions included Konya, locations around Ankara, and Cappadocia, though participants could travel on their own during free weekends with director approval.