Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships assist students in acquiring competence in foreign languages as well as a fuller understanding of the regions and countries in which those languages are commonly used. The Krieger School’s undergraduate International Studies Program on the Homewood campus and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC are approved by the U.S. Department of Education to award FLAS fellowships to eligible Krieger and SAIS students studying the following languages: Arabic, Haitian Creole*, Hebrew*, Hindi*, Indonesian**, Italian*, Japanese, Korean, Persian**, Portuguese*, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Yiddish*. Fellowships may also be awarded to students studying other languages on a case-by-case basis. (*Languages only offered at Homewood; **Languages only offered at SAIS.)

Please Note: the availability of instruction in a given foreign language is subject to change without notice. The cancellation or postponement of language courses may affect a student’s eligibility for a FLAS fellowship.

Types of Fellowships

There are two types of FLAS fellowships: academic year and summer intensive. Academic year fellowships are designed to allow students to pursue language and international studies on a full-time basis during the regular academic year. These fellowships provide tuition and stipend support. (Note: in some cases FLAS funding may replace other forms of financial aid.)

The FLAS Academic Year grant amounts are:

• Graduate students: tuition grant is $9,000 per semester and the stipend is $10,000 per semester
• Undergraduate students: tuition grant is $5,000 per semester and the stipend is $2,500 per semester

Summer FLAS fellowships are to be used for intensive language training at other institutions in the United States or abroad, and the training must provide the equivalent of a full academic year of instruction and be at least six weeks in duration. These fellowships offer up to $5,000 of tuition coverage and $2,500 of stipend funding per award to cover travel and living expenses. Only Homewood students are eligible to apply for summer FLAS fellowships.

Fellowship Requirements

Academic year FLAS fellows must take one graded FLAS-approved language course and one graded area studies course per semester. 

Summer FLAS fellows must enroll in an established intensive language program that is at least six weeks in duration and that requires a minimum of 140 instructional hours for students at the intermediate level or 120 instructional hours for students at the advanced level.

All FLAS fellows must complete online reports as requested by the International Studies Program at Homewood, SAIS, and the U.S. Department of Education. Failure to submit these reports or failure to submit them on time precludes future participation in the program and may result in a forfeiture of funds received.

Eligibility

To be eligible to receive a FLAS fellowship, all applicants must:

• Be a citizen, national, or permanent resident of the United States.
• Be currently enrolled full-time at Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts & Sciences (Homewood undergraduate and PhD students ONLY) or the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (currently enrolled MAIR students who are entering their second year of study ONLY). Students enrolled in other schools and units of JHU, including Advanced Academic Programs (AAP), are NOT eligible to apply.
• Be taking or planning to take courses in foreign language and related international studies.
• Show potential for high academic achievement based on such indices as grade point average, class ranking, or similar measures.

In addition, priority will be given to students who:

• Seek employment in public service careers and/or in areas of national need.
• Study one of the following priority languages offered at Homewood or SAIS: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, and Persian.
• Show demonstrated financial need.

Undergraduate applicants only:

• Students must be at the intermediate or advanced level of instruction in a less commonly taught language (LCTL). A LCTL is any language other than English, Spanish, French or German. As a rule, beginning level fellowships are not permitted.
• Undergraduate applicants must be a freshman, sophomore or junior at the time of application. Senior undergraduate students are only eligible for academic year FLAS fellowships.
• Undergraduates may use an award for a formal study abroad program at the intermediate or advanced level of a critical language or other LCTL. Prior approval from the U.S. Department of Education and the Johns Hopkins Global Education Office is required for these fellowships. Students intending to study in a country determined to be at high risk by the U.S. Department of State and/or the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) must submit a petition with the Global Education Office.

Graduate applicants only:

• Typically, graduate students should be at the intermediate or advanced level of language proficiency.
• An exception might be made for the beginning level of a LCTL if a graduate student has achieved proficiency in another language of the world area of specialization, and if a second language of that world area is required for the student’s overall training and expertise.
• SAIS MAIR candidates entering their second year of study may only apply for academic year fellowships. KSAS PhD students may only apply for summer intensive fellowships.

Application Process

Students who meet the FLAS eligibility requirements listed above are encouraged to submit applications for academic year and summer fellowships using the online FLAS application (see the apply here button below).

In addition to the online application form, applicants must submit a CV/resume and transcript (uploaded with the online application), and have two letters of recommendation emailed to [email protected]. One letter must be an academic reference and one must be from someone who is knowledgeable about the applicants language studies. A third letter of recommendation, which can be from anyone, is optional. All letters of recommendation must be emailed directly by the letter writers to [email protected]. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their letter writers submit recommendations by the application deadline.

The deadline to apply is February 15.

Contact Information

For more information about the FLAS fellowship program and application process, please contact:

• Homewood students: Dr. Sydney Van Morgan, International Studies Program Director, [email protected].
• SAIS students: SAIS Academic Advising, [email protected].