Students who are interested in intensive language study abroad should consider applying to both the Critical Language Scholarship and the Boren Scholarship or Fellowship. These awards fully fund students to study critical languages, many of which are taught at UTSA: Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The scholarship also allows students to study languages not offered at UTSA: Arabic, Bangla, Indonesian, Swahili, and Urdu.
Critical Language Scholarship
CLS funds students to travel abroad and learn the following critical languages: Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Persian, Punjabi, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.
Application Year: First-year students through graduate students.
Description: CLS funds students to travel abroad and learn the following critical languages:
- Beginning level, no prior knowledge needed: Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Persian, Punjabi, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu
- One year of study required by start date: Arabic, Korean, Portuguese, Russian
- Two years of study required by the start date: Chinese, Japanese
Award: Fully-funded travel to the destination country and all program expenses.
Applicant Profile:
- Applicants can be from any field of study but should demonstrate why learning a critical language is essential for their future goals.
- Applicants should demonstrate that they can adapt to unfamiliar cultures and stressful situations.
- Applicants should demonstrate that they work well in teams in intensive learning environments.
Deadline: Early November
Boren Scholarship/Fellowship
Boren Awards fund students to travel abroad and learn the following critical languages for 6-12 months. Students are especially encouraged to apply for the Flagship Initiative programs in African languages, Indonesian, South Asian languages, and Turkish.
Application Year: First-year students through graduate students.
Description: Boren Awards fund students to travel abroad and learn the following critical languages for 6-12 months. Students are especially encouraged to apply for the Flagship Initiative programs in African languages, Indonesian, South Asian languages, and Turkish.
Award: Up to $20,000 in travel to the destination country and all program expenses.
Applicant Profile:
- Applicants can be from any field of study but should demonstrate why learning a critical language is essential for their future goals. Students from Cybersecurity and Computer Science are highly competitive.
- Applicants should demonstrate that they can adapt to unfamiliar cultures and stressful situations.
- Applicants should demonstrate that they work well in teams in intensive learning environments.
- Following completion of the program and graduation from UTSA, students will need to do 1-year of federal service within a 10-year period.
Deadline: Late January/Early February
Campus Nomination: Required for Boren Fellowship (Graduate-level)
Opportunities within the Honors College
The Honors College offers students the opportunity to participate in a number of different programs to further expand knowledge, especially in the realms of professional development, leadership development, and public service. Special programs are fully integrated into the Honors College curriculum, making credit transfer simple and ensuring that students are working toward Honors requirements.
