If a language is offered by more than one center, students can apply to all Centers that offer the language. For example, Polish is offered by EUC, CGS, and REEEC. If you are applying to study Polish, you can apply to all three centers at the same time. You do not need to submit separate on-line application forms (please simply check all the centers to which you apply on the form). Language availability may vary each year depending on what courses are offered by the University of Illinois and U.S. Department of Education approval.
NOTE:
- Undergraduates cannot apply to study French, German, or Spanish. Undergraduate fellowships are only available for intermediate to advanced study of less commonly taught languages, which are defined as modern languages other than Spanish, German, or French.
- The FLAS award is generally for intermediate or advanced study of a less commonly taught language; however “an exception might be made for the beginning level of a less commonly taught language if a graduate student has achieved advanced proficiency in another language of the world area of specialization, and if learning a second language of that world area is required for the student’s overall training and expertise.”
ACADEMIC YEAR 2025-2026
Language availability may vary depending on what courses are offered by the University of Illinois and U.S. Department of Education approval.
- Center for African Studies (CAS): Arabic, Swahili, Wolof
- Center for Global Studies (CGS): Arabic, Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian, Chinese-Mandarin, Czech, Hebrew-Modern, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Quechua, Russian, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Wolof.
- Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CLACS): Quechua, Q’anjob’al, Portuguese (Brazilian), and Indigenous languages of the Americas
- Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES): Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew
- European Union Center (EUC): Arabic, Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, French, German, Greek (modern), Hebrew (modern), Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Ukrainian. Priority will be given to less-commonly-taught languages (languages other than French, German, Spanish) and higher-level language study.
- Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center (REEEC): Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian. Please ask the FLAS coordinator about other possible regional languages.
FLAS Fellowships are administered by the University of Illinois Area Studies Centers and Programs and are awarded competitively through an annual competition. Students from all departments and professional schools are encouraged to apply. Priority is given to the study of less commonly taught languages and each Center has specific priorities.
A standardized FLAS application form is available online and a link can be found on the FLAS Application page. There are different forms for undergraduate and graduate applications.