East Asia Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship

Academic Year and Summer fellowships for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language and area studies.

Note: As of fall 2018, UCLA no longer offers FLAS fellowships for East Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean).

The Asia Pacific Center administers the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program for East Asia at UCLA, supporting graduate and undergraduate training in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language and related area studies. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents. FLAS Fellowships are provided by a grant from the US Department of Education Title VI program. The purpose of the program is to enrich the nation’s pool of area and international specialists. Applicants should be planning to use their training to teach, to serve in government or international agencies, or to engage in other work that advances American understanding of other countries.

New and continuing UCLA graduate and undergraduate students in all disciplines may apply for the Academic Year FLAS awards. Only continuing students may apply for the Summer FLAS. Undergraduate students must be studying the target language at the intermediate or advanced level to be eligible. Graduate students may only apply to study a language at the beginning level if they have already achieved advanced proficiency in another East Asian language.

Award Amounts:

• The AY graduate FLAS Fellowship provides a stipend of $15,000. Graduate student fees and tuition are expected to be provided by the student's department. The undergraduate award provides a stipend of $5,000 and up to $10,000 toward fees and tuition.
• The Summer FLAS Fellowship for both graduate and undergraduate students supports intensive summer language study in approved programs in the U.S. and abroad. The award provides a stipend of $2,500, up to $5,000 in tuition and fees, and up to $1,000 in travel expenses.

Fellowship Requirements:

• For academic year fellowships, recipients must take a full course load (a minimum of 12 units) each term, including one East Asia area studies and one language course for a letter grade. Directed reading courses in the language are accepted for advanced students with advance approval. Awards may be used for dissertation research, but this must be approved in advance.
• Summer fellowships are for intensive language study only. Summer programs must meet the following FLAS requirements: at least six weeks long; 140 contact hours of instruction for beginning or intermediate level and 120 contact hours for advanced language level; and provide the equivalent of one academic year of the language. Recipients must be at the intermediate or advanced level in order to study overseas. 
• Reporting requirements: Recipients are required by the US Department of Education to complete an online performance report at the end of the award period; to comply with a language proficiency evaluation which must be submitted by the student's instructor at the beginning and end of the award period; and to provide biannual reports on employment and use of the target language for a minimum of eight years after graduation.
• FLAS fellowships may be combined with supplementary funding from other funding agencies. However in cases of parallel large grants (NSF, Japan Foundation, Monbusho, multiple quarter TA-ships, etc.), recipients will have to decide which grant to accept and pairing will not be allowed. You are required to inform the Asia Pacific Center of any awards (apart from graduate student fee waivers) which you may receive during the award period.

Application Requirements:

• Statement of purpose outlining your language study plans and explaining how language study will enhance your future research
• 2 academic letters of recommendation
• Unofficial university transcripts (not URSA)
• Resume or CV
• Budget (summer only)
• 1 language evaluation or proficiency certification. Applicants may submit ONE of the following forms of supporting documentation to demonstrate language proficiency:
  -Language proficiency evaluation by a language instructor (may be from UCLA or another institution. View procedure for obtaining a language evaluation from UCLA Asian Languages and Cultures instructors)
  -Language proficiency certificate from a national or international test (i.e., ACTFL-OPI, HSK, JLPT)
  -Results of a UCLA language placement test
  If you have no prior knowledge of the language for which you are applying (graduate students only), you may indicate this on the application and do not need to submit documentation of proficiency.
• *Financial need may be considered in determining the final awards. Students my demonstrate financial need by including a copy of your 2015-16 FAFSA Student Aid Report (SAR) and your most recent financial aid award letter. To complete the FAFSA application, visit https://fafsa.ed.gov/.

Deadline: February 21, 2018

Summer 2018 FLAS Application: click here

Academic Year 2018-2019 FLAS Application: click here

 Contact Aaron Miller at armiller@international.ucla.edu for further information.