Students are always seeking funding for language study. The beauty of the African Languages Initiative pilot program, designed to increase the number of Boren Scholars, Fellows and alumni engaged in the study of critical languages of Africa, is that it funds (and requires) domestic US study of the language prior to departure to the host country. (The domestic portion can be bypassed if the student has reached “novice high” –ILR 0+.)

The program’s purpose is to help meet the critical need for specialists in a range of academic and professional fields who are able to operate effectively in the program’s major African languages: Bambara, Swahili, Yoruba, and Zulu.

Prospective students will begin with the intensive  summer program in the United States and continue to the overseas semester component in Mali (Bambara), Tanzania (Swahili), Nigeria (Yoruba), or South Africa (Zulu). (The funding website will eventually provide information on where these languages will be taught in the US for the domestic portion of the program.)

Students applying for both the Domestic and Overseas programs will be funded through the Boren Scholarship or Boren Fellowship program  – click here to learn more.