US Department of EducationInternational and Foreign
Language Education Service (IFLE)
Beth MacRae & Peter BakerProgram Officers
FLAS Project Administration for FLAS Coordinators
FLAS Fiscal Years 2010-2013
Closing Date Notice (CDN) - $35,400,000 IFLE recommended - $35,398,500 FLAS programs – 126 Graduate AY fellowships – 792 Undergraduate AY fellowships – 271 Summer fellowships - 693
Programs by Geographic Areas
World Area or Thematic Focus FLAS Programs RecommendedAfrica 12
Canada 2
East Asia 21
International 11
Latin America 18
Middle East 19
Russia, East Europe, and Eurasia 16
South Asia 9
Southeast Asia 7
Western Europe, Europe 11
Total 126
Eligibility Requirements for Graduate and Undergraduate
FLAS Recipients Students must be accepted for enrollment in
or enrolled at a FLAS-granting institution A student applying from a non-FLAS
granting institution must attend a FLAS-granting institution’s program
Eligibility – Undergraduate Student should be engaged in an
instructional program with stated performance goals for functional foreign language use, in combination with area studies, international studies, or the international professional studies program
FLAS awards may only be given for the intermediate or advanced study of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) (All foreign languages are acceptable except for German, Spanish, and French)
Eligibility – Graduate Students must take at least one
performance-based modern foreign language course in a program where performance-based modern foreign language instruction is provided
Students must take at least one related area studies, international studies, or the international aspects of professional studies course
FLAS Dissertation Research Abroad (AY only)
Students must be at the advanced level of language proficiency
All course work must be completed Comprehensive Exams must be completed The use of language in dissertation research must
be extensive enough to be considered equal to the improvement that would be obtained from a full academic year’s worth of formal classroom instruction
FLAS Dissertation Research Abroad (AY only) continued
Program officers request 1-2 page description of dissertation
Recommendation – Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Program or other dissertation programs
Competition
Programs must run each competition as described in the grant application
Information on when competitions occur, who is eligible, which schools at the university may apply, the difference between academic year and summer, etc. must be easy to understand
Competition cont.
Information to applicants should be clear and transparent, i.e. requirements for summer programs, unallowable countries or areas, process for alternates, where application is available, when it is due, how to apply, etc.
Competition Description
Competition Description cont.
Competition Description cont.
Fellowship Amounts Graduates
Academic Year Award
Summer Award
Institutional Payment
$18,000 $5,000
Subsistence Allowance
$15,000 $2,500
Total $33,000 $7,500
Travel Award (optional)
Not allowed Actual price of travel or up to
$1,000, whichever is less
Fellowship Amounts Undergraduates
Academic Year Award
Summer Award
Institutional Payment
$10,000 $5,000
Subsistence Allowance
$5,000 $2,500
Total $15,000 $7,500
Travel Award Not Allowed Actual price of travel or up to
$1,000, whichever is less
Institutional Payment: High Tuition and Fees
If the tuition and fee rates are greater than the institutional amount and the application stated that resources other than the student would be responsible for the difference between Title VI funds and the institution’s tuition and fee rate, then this must be honored for the entire grant cycle
Institutional Payment: High Tuition and Fees cont.
Example – Graduate AY tuition & fees is $20,500. Only $18,000 can be paid from the FLAS award, the remaining $2,500 must be waived or paid by another source (student, institution, or other)
Institutional Payment: Low Tuition and Fees
Any institutional funds in excess of the actual tuition and fees must be used to fund additional fellowship awards, to the extent that enough money is available to make a full award
Funds from other FLAS institutions can be combined to create an additional FLAS award
Institutional Fees
If health insurance is a mandatory cost for all students then that cost can be considered as part of the tuition and fees and paid for with that category of funds
Subsistence Allowance or Stipend
The subsistence allowance is meant to cover personal expenses including room and board
If room and board are included in the tuition/fee payment, you should not pay the student for the same costs. Subtract the amount from the subsistence allowance and give the student the remainder
Other Financial Issues
Student who does not complete a program– Each scenario is different– Contact the program officer– Payback is an institutional decision
For instance an institution may ask for part of the reward back, such as the prorated amount for a semester or quarter.
AY Fellowship Requirements – per semester or quarter
Graduate level At least one related area
studies course At least one language course Enrolled full-time (FLAS
institution’s definition of ‘full-time’)
Undergraduate level At least one area studies
course At least one language course Enrolled full-time (FLAS
institution’s definition of ‘full-time’)
Studying a LCTL at the intermediate or advanced level
Summer Fellowship Requirements
Graduate Level Minimum of 6 weeks in
length intensive language program
140 or more contact hours of instruction for students at the beginning and intermediate levels
120 or more contact hours of instruction for students at the advanced level
Undergraduate Level Minimum of 6 weeks in
length intensive language program
140 or more contact hours of instruction for students at the intermediate level
120 or more contact hours of instruction for students at the advanced level
Unexpended Funds
Unexpended funds from AY may be carried over to Summer
Summer only - If there is not enough money to make a full summer fellowship award, excess funds can be used to make travel awards for $1,000 or the actual cost of travel (whichever is less)
Unexpended Funds & Attachment Z
The grantee is required to obtain ED approval for the following:– Extending the project period end date (final
year)– Using grant funds carried forward that were not
obligated in the budget period– Expending grant funds before the budget period
start date
Transfer of Funds FLAS centers should attempt to make
awards at their own institution first, before transferring funds to other FLAS institutions
Reporting Requirements: The FLAS institution that funds the majority of the award must report on the student
All transfer information should be included on IRIS reports
Transfer of Funds
Summer Language Cooperatives It is not appropriate to automatically transfer a
predetermined number of fellowships to a domestic summer language institute at another institution
Make as many of your awards to students on your campus as possible and they may ‘take’ that award to a summer language institute
If all options to make awards on your campus are exhausted then you may transfer funds
Summer Language Cooperatives If you transfer funds to a summer language
institute - and you are the majority funder for a student-recipient - then you must report on that student in your final summer FLAS report
The language cooperative’s host institution is responsible to provide the donor institution with the relevant student information needed to complete the IRIS FLAS report
If a student at an institute is supported by your funds then the language that student is studying must be on your approved language list
Approvals - Language
Approvals – Overseas Program Requests (OPR)
Additional room for explanation ofthe request is available at the bottom of this screen
Approvals - Travel
Travel Approval Request (TAR) Any international travel for Fellows only
receiving a FLAS travel award Country, reason, dates, airlines, cost, any
comments Departure and return itinerary TARs are only for international travel
FLAS travel awards Students may receive up to $1,000 - or the
actual price of a ticket, whichever is less - in the form of a travel award for international or domestic travel
Travel awards can support international or domestic airfare, train, or car mileage costs
IRIS Travel Approval Requests (TARS) are only necessary for students whose international travel is being supported by a travel award – not for domestic travel
Additional data fields continue below…
Travel and Security cont. Check the State Dept.’s travel warning site before
submitting approving overseas programs/travel for approval
IFLE may consult with Embassies if travel is requested to countries with travel warning in place
If there are travel warnings, check to see if there are other countries with appropriate programs in the same language
Some travel requires fellows to acknowledge risks before approval
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html
Fly America Act (FAA) A law pertaining to federal government-
financed air transportation Requires fliers using federal funds to travel
on American-flag carriers ‘Open Skies Agreement’ modified this law
– currently effects flights to/from the EU In the Travel Approval Request (TAR)
screen in IRIS grantees must verify that flight plans follow FAA requirements
Fly America Act screen
FLAS travel awards cont.
Travel awards only occur when FLAS funds remain after AY & Summer fellowships are awarded
Do not pre-budget FLAS travel awards TARs should be submitted 30 days before
travel occurs
FLAS recipient surveys Aggregated data from your center’s survey
will be collected through a standardized screen in IRIS
Surveys will occur ONLY for FLAS recipients
Surveys will be every two years for eight years
Surveys must begin with the AY 10-11 cohort of students
Surveys continued… The tracking schedule is:
Aggregated data due date: 2010 (n/a)
Aggregated data due date: 10/1/2012
Aggregated data due date: 10/1/2014
Aggregated data due date: 10/1/2016
Aggregated data due date: 10/1/12018
AY 10 /11Summer 11(FY 10)
X X X X
AY 11/12Summer 12(FY 11)
X X X
AY 12/13Summer 13(FY 12)
X X X
AY 13/14Summer 14(FY 13)
X X
Surveys continued
Each center is responsible to survey its own FLAS recipients by whatever means/system it chooses to use
The data from the survey will be inputted into IRIS
Centers should align their survey systems to the information that will be inputted into IRIS
Working with Professional Schools
Ability to take FLAS fellowship requirements while in a professional program
Coming to a tuition and fees agreement with the professional school
Competitive priority
There was one Competitive Priority in the most recent FLAS competition – it read:
“Applications that propose to make at least 25% of their academic year fellowships in any of the 78 priority languages that were selected from the U.S. Department of Education’s list of Less Commonly Taught Languages.”
Competitive priority continued
If a grantee received those competitive priority points they must meet that threshold (25%) each academic year
Program Officers will be monitoring grantee performance to ensure the threshold is achieved
FLAS reporting scheduleReport Type
Due Date Contents
AY interim September 1st FLAS recipient info (1), Student self evaluation (pre award) (2), budget info (1), pre fellowship evaluation (3)
1. FLAS coordinator2. FLAS recipient3. Language evaluator
AY final June 1st Student self eval. (post award) (1), budget info (2), post fellowship eval. (3)
1. FLAS recipient2. FLAS coordinator3. Language evaluator
Summer interim
June 1st FLAS recipient info (1), Student self evaluation (pre award) (2), budget info (1), pre fellowship evaluation (3)
1. FLAS coordinator2. FLAS recipient3. Language evaluator
Summer final
September 1st Student self eval. (post award) (1), budget info (2), post fellowship eval. (3)
1. FLAS recipient2. FLAS coordinator3. Language evaluator
Report Types / Dates / Content