The Latin American Institute administers the federally-funded Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program supporting language training in Quechua, Portuguese, and Advanced Spanish for graduate and undergraduate students at UCLA.
FLAS fellowships are provided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI program. The purpose of the program is to enrich the nation’s pool of area and international specialists. Applicants must be planning to use their training to teach, serve in government or international agencies, or engage in other work that advances American understanding of other countries.
*Academic year awards are contingent upon renewed funding from the Department of Education.
Eligibility
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. New and continuing UCLA graduate students and continuing undergraduates may apply for academic year and/or summer awards. Incoming undergraduate transfer students may apply for academic year awards.
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Graduate students may study target languages at the beginning, intermeidate and advanced level during the fellowship period (restrictions apply for overseas program, see below).
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Undergraduate students must study target languages at the intermediate or advanced level to be eligible for FLAS awards.
*Spanish must always be studied at the advanced level and has the lowest priority
Academic Year (2014-2015) FLAS
Academic year FLAS awards require recipients take one langauge and one area or international studies course (with Latin American content) each quarter during the academic year. Recipients must be enrolled as full-time students during the duration of the fellowship.
• Courses must be taken for a letter grade. Independent study courses are not accepted.
• Awards for dissertation research are highly discouraged, and require prior approval from the Department of Education.
Applicants must be at the advanced level of proficiency.
Summer (2014) FLAS
Summer FLAS awards provide funding for intensive language study programs in the U.S. or abroad, and must be approved by the Department of Education. Programs must be a minimum of six-weeks in lengh and offer a minimum of 140 contact hours for beginning and intermediate level students, or 120 hours for advanced level students.
• Other languages of the Americas, such as Nahuatl, Zapotec, and Yucatec Maya, may be eligible for summer study.
• FLAS awards may not be used for an overseas language program at the beginning level unless there is no equivalent program in the U.S.
Need help identifying summer programs? Visit the CLASP website as a reference
Estimated Award Amounts
• Academic-year graduate awards provide a $15,000 stipend and up to $18,000 in tuition and fees.
• Academic-year undergraduate awards provide a $5,000 stipend and up to $10,000 for tuition.
• Summer FLAS fellowships provide up to $5,000 toward tuition and fees (excluding room & board) as well as a $2,500 stipend.
Application Requirements
All FLAS applications must be submitted online at apply.international.ucla.edu/?lai. Students can apply for both a summer and academic year awards, but must submit a separate application for each. Students will need to submit the following:
• 1-2 page statement of purpose outlining proposed research and language study plans and an explanation of how language study will enhance the project and/or is relevant to your academic and professional/career goals.
• Two letters of recommendation*
• Resume/CV
• Unofficial Transcripts (not URSA)
• Language Evaluation: If you have some knowledge of the language that you are applying to, you need to submit a language evaluation (AP exams or other certificates are not allowed).
- UCLA students: For Quechua, please contact Luz Maria de la Torre. For Portuguese: Please have your current (or most recent) instructor/TA conduct the evaluation. For Spanish: Please contact a UCLA faculty member from the Department of Spanish & Portuguese
- Prospective UCLA students (not currently a UCLA student, applying for graduate or transfer admission): Please have a language instructor at your current/former institution or local university conduct a language evaluation.
LANGUAGE EVALUATION instructions and information
*Letters of recommendation must be submitted online by your recommenders. In order for your recommenders to receive an email with unique log-in credentials to access to your application, you must include their names and emails in the "Academic References" section of the application.
In addition to the above, SUMMER FLAS APPLICANTS, must provide:
• Detailed Budget
• Summer Program Information: Program name, start/end date, total number of weeks, total number of contact hours and link to program website and/or program brochure
Deadline: February 19, 2014
Questions? Please review the FLAS Frequently Asked Questions. Still have questions?? Contact Us