Critical Language Scholarship Website
Deadline: Tuesday, November 19th, 2025 at 8pm EST
Interested in applying for the Critical Language Scholarship and would like support with the application process?
Then, *please fill out this CLS interest form*.
Our team will then invite you to join our UT CLS Canvas course site, where we house key CLS resources, can provide feedback on your CLS application materials, and schedule 1-on-1 consultations with our staff.
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), a U.S. Department of State program, is focused on language and cultural immersion. Intensive institutes are offered in the following foreign languages:
| Beginning | Advanced Beginning | Intermediate | Advanced | |
| Arabic | CLS SPARK | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Chinese | CLS SPARK | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Hindi | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Indonesian | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Japanese | CLS SPARK | CLS SPARK | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Korean | CLS SPARK | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Persian | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Portuguese | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Russian | CLS SPARK | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | |
| Swahili | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Turkish | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Urdu | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
Eligibility Criteria:
- A U.S. citizen
- Enrolled at an accredited U.S. undergraduate or graduate degree-granting program at the time of application.
- Must be in acceptable mental and physical health. Grantees will be required to submit a satisfactory Medical Information Form and Physician’s statement and must inform the program of any changes in their health status between submission of these forms and departure in order to participate in the program.
- If a first-year student, must have completed at least one academic year of study (two semesters or three quarters).