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Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships 

Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships support students taking less-commonly taught languages and area studies coursework. The Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies will begin accepting applications for 2024-25 summer and academic year fellowships on November 15, 2023. Both graduate and undergraduate students are eligible to apply.

Summer 2024 & Academic Year 2024-25 application deadline:

Friday, February 2, 2024, at 11:59pm

Please consult with Adi Džumhur, CSEEES Associate Director, prior to starting the the application.

 

What is an academic year FLAS fellowship? 

A non-service fellowship that provides graduate and undergraduate students with a tuition scholarship and a stipend for living expenses. The goals of the fellowship are: (1) to assist in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area/international studies; (2) to stimulate the attainment of foreign language acquisition and fluency; and (3) to develop a pool of international experts to meet national needs.

Fellowship Award:

  • Graduate students receive the cost of tuition and fees plus a $20,000 student stipend.
  • Undergraduate students receive up to $10,000 toward tuition and fees plus a $5,000 student stipend.

Requirements: 

  • Students must take one REEES language course and one area studies course related to the region each semester during the academic year
    • Priority languages are Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), Persian (Dari), Polish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, and Ukrainian (summer only)
  • Undergraduate students are required to take the language at the intermediate or advanced level

Selection: 

The selection committee reviews all proposals and ranks them using a weighted scale that considers academic merit, demonstrated financial need, and the extent to which the proposed study or use of the language matches Title VI priorities.

Who Can Apply? 

> Students must be a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization, or a permanent resident.

> For academic year fellowships, graduate students must be enrolled in a program of graduate or professional study by the start of the fellowship, but may apply in advance of admissions notifications.

> Graduate students must be at the intermediate or advanced level of language study. If applying to begin study of a new language, one must have advanced-level knowledge of another regionally-related language (for example, if applying as a beginner in Polish, one must have advanced knowledge of Russian, or any other Slavic language).

> At the undergraduate level, only students at the intermediate or advanced level in the less commonly taught language of application are eligible.

> Students should be enrolled (or accepted to soon enroll) at UNC-Chapel Hill or one of our designated partner institutions in the state of North Carolina.

Application Steps 

    1. Applicants must have their skills evaluated by a language instructor if they have any prior experience in the language of application. 1) Please download and complete the FLAS Language Evaluation Form 2) Complete the evaluation form 3) Upload the form via the application system. A former language instructor is recommended to complete the evaluation. If this is not possible, a UNC faculty member who teaches the language would be qualified to conduct the evaluation.
    2. Applicants must submit a complete FLAS Application Form by 11:59 p.m. EST, February 2, 2024. Evaluations, transcripts and other required documents are all due by the deadline. You are responsible for ensuring the submission of evaluation form and recommendation letters. Any late submissions may result in disqualification.