Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)

Empowering Alumni to Make Positive Impacts in Communities

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains. In summer 2018, the Bishkek office hosted for the first time a CLS group for Russian language in partnership with the American University of Central Asia (AUCA). 

The CLS institute in Bishkek is designed to cover the equivalent of one academic year of university-level Russian study during the 8-week program, and is designed to meet the needs of students from a range of language levels and backgrounds. Students range in proficiency and experience from those who have completed the minimum required two years of college-level study or the equivalent, to heritage speakers already at an advanced level of proficiency.

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Students from a variety of disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. Participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period and later apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers. CLS participants are citizen ambassadors, sharing American values and promoting American influence abroad.