Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship

What is FLAS?

Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships support students taking languages and area studies coursework. The Center for European Studies offers both Academic Year and Summer Fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students. The Fellowship is designed to help students achieve their career goals, such as employment with the U.S. government.

Information Sessions

For the 2025 application deadline, the area studies centers will hold information sessions, hosted by FLAS administrators. Any students or prospective students with questions about the program or the application process should attend one of these sessions. All sessions will provide the same information.

The sessions are scheduled for:

• Thursday, October 24, 2:00 pm EST in FedEx Global Education Center, room 3009 or online via Zoom at this link
• Tuesday, November 19, 3:00 pm EST in FedEx Global Education Center, room 3009 or online via Zoom at this link
• Thursday, December 5, 10:00 am EST in FedEx Global Education Center, room 3009 or online via Zoom at this link
• Friday, January 10, 12:00 pm EST in FedEx Global Education Center, room 3009 or online via Zoom at this link
• Friday, January 19, 12:00 pm EST in FedEx Global Education Center, room 3009 or online via Zoom at this link

Eligibility

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

Undergraduate Students: Students must be at the intermediate or advanced level in their language of application.

Graduate Students: For Academic Year fellowships, 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 notification.

Graduate students must be at the intermediate or advanced level of study. If applying as a beginner, you must have advanced-level knowledge of another regionally-related language (for example, if applying as a beginner in Polish, you must demonstrate advanced knowledge of French).

Graduate students studying a language at the beginner level must study that language at UNC (for Academic Year Fellowships) or through a domestic language program (for Summer Fellowships).

Languages

Approved languages for CES Academic Year and Summer Fellowships are:
Arabic, Basque*, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), Dutch, Galician*, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish in a European context, and Ukrainian*

Summer Fellowships Only: Other contemporary European languages such as modern Greek or Albanian may be approved on a case by case basis if students find an eligible summer program.
*Check with FLAS Coordinator before applying

Fellowship Packages

Academic-Year Fellowships
The Academic-Year fellowship is a non-service fellowship that requires students to take one European language course and one area studies course related to Contemporary European Studies each semester during the academic year. Fellows are required to take at least one language and one area studies course each semester.

Academic-Year Undergraduate Fellowship: up to $10,000 in tuition and fees + $5,000 stipend

Academic-Year Graduate Fellowship: tuition and fees + $20,000 stipend

Graduate students in UNC Professional Schools can have tuition & fees covered up to the cost of in-state tuition in the Graduate School of the College of Arts & Sciences

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Summer Fellowships
Summer FLAS Fellowships support intensive summer language study for both Undergraduate and Graduate students.

Summer Fellowship Undergraduate & Graduate: Up to $5,000 for tuition and fees + $3,500 living allowance
Undergraduate applicants must plan to pursue an intermediate or advanced language program.

Application

The application deadline for 2023-2024 FLAS Fellowships (both Academic Year and Summer Terms) will be announced soon.

The FLAS committees review all applications and rank them using a weighted scale that considers academic merit, priority languages, demonstrated financial need, and the extent to which the proposed study or use of the language matches Title VI priorities.

Application Components:

• Academic Information & FLAS Language Information
• Statement of purpose
• Resume
• Transcript(s) (can be unofficial copies)
• Two letters of reference
• For Masters level and JD students: short statement of research/study interests
• For PhD students: short research abstract
• FLAS Language Evaluation Form: Applicants must have their skills evaluated by a language instructor if they have any prior experience in the language of application.

Applicants must submit a complete FLAS Application Form by 11:59 p.m. EST, on the application deadline. Recommendations, transcripts and other required documents are all due by the deadline. Any late submissions may result in disqualification.