The US Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) program awarded $240,840 to American Councils to provide scholarships to advanced undergraduate and graduate students of Russian and Persian participating in its semester programs in Moscow and Dushanbe..
American Councils will award a total of 36 scholarships 12 each per semester for spring 2017, fall 2017, and spring 2018 to participants in the Advanced Russian Language and Areas Studies Program (RLASP) in Moscow, and the Eurasian Regional Language Program (ERLP) in Dushanbe. The average scholarship award will be approximately $7,000. Successful applicants will demonstrate outstanding academic ability, strong potential to gain from an overseas language-immersion experience, and future plans to work in education or other fields critical to the US government. K-12 teachers are also eligible for the new scholarship funding and are strongly encouraged to apply.
Russian Language and Area Studies Program Moscow
American Councils has operated RLASP Moscow in collaboration with Moscow International University (MIU) since 1995, serving more than 900 undergraduate, graduate students, teachers, and scholars from higher education institutions throughout the US Each semester, approximately 20 RLASP participants join the MIU student community to study Russian language, culture, history, and politics in courses specially designed by American Councils in collaboration with faculty of the department of Russian as a foreign language.
Eurasian Regional Language Program Dushanbe
American Councils established ERLP Dushanbe in 2004 to offer US students the singular opportunity to study Persian in an immersion environment. Students may select any of the three varieties of Persian (Tajik, Farsi, or Dari) for intensive classroom instruction while living with Tajik families and engaging in a wide range of carefully structured program features designed to maximize their exposure to the host country culture and language. The program is based at the American Councils Language Center in downtown Dushanbe, where participants have the opportunity to study with outstanding faculty from Iran, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan.
Both Programs Feature
- Ongoing logistical support, guidance, and 24-hour emergency assistance from a full-time US resident director with expert knowledge of the host-country language and culture;
- Special seminars exploring Russian or Persian mass-media, contemporary society, and modern politics;
- Intensive language classes geared toward individual proficiency levels and designed to strengthen reading, listening, and speaking skills;
- Weekly cultural excursions and an extended trip outside the host-city to maximize exposure to key historical sights and provide additional opportunities to interact with peers and host-country nationals;
- Housing with carefully selected host families in Moscow or Dushanbe;
- Opportunities to engage in internships, service learning, and a wide array of extracurricular activities;
- Weekly meetings with conversation partners to maximize linguistic and cultural immersion;
- Academic credit for work completed overseas through Bryn Mawr College;
- Pre- and post-program reading, listening, and speaking proficiency testing to measure linguistic and cultural gains;
- Comprehensive overseas insurance.
Apply Today
To learn more about AC's language programs or to begin an application, visit www.acstudyabroad.org/RLASP and www.acstudyabroad.org/ERLP or write to us at outbound@americancouncils.org with questions.
Fulbright Hays Group Projects Abroad
The Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act, commonly referred to as the Fulbright-Hays Act, was made law by the 87th US Congress under President John F. Kennedy on September 21, 1961. Senator J. William Fulbright and Representative Wayne Hays introduced the legislation, which represents the basic charter for US government-sponsored educational and cultural exchange. 2016 marks the 55th anniversary of this landmark legislation. Newly awarded Fulbright Hays funding equals approximately 36 percent of the total American Councils RLASP budget and 51 percent of the ERLP budget, the remainder of which is covered by non-governmental funds.
About American Councils for International Education
American Councils has administered high-impact study abroad programs focused on intensive linguistic and cultural learning for US undergraduates, graduate students, scholars, and teachers since 1976, when it launched the Russian Language and Area Studies Program (RLASP), its first overseas program for Russian language study in the USSR. In 1996, American Councils used its extensive network of institutional partners and local support offices in the former Soviet states to establish the Eurasian Regional Language Program (ERLP), offering immersion-based language study as well as content-based coursework for US students at leading universities and academic centers across Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.