**Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Tracking Survey**

**Results**

2010–18 Cohort

International and Foreign Language Education

U.S. Department of Education

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. Further, the inclusion of information or URLs does not reflect the importance of the organization, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed.

**U.S. Department of Education**Betsy DeVos*Secretary of Education*

**Office of Postsecondary Education**Robert King*Assistant Secretary*

**International and Foreign Language Education**

Cheryl Gibbs

Senior Director

This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, *FLAS Tracking Survey Results: 2010 –18 Cohort International and Foreign Language Education*, Washington, DC, 2020.

This report is available on the Department’s website at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsflasf/performance.html

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ContentsExecutive Summary	4Introduction	6Survey Design and Administration	7Survey Results	8Number of Responses	8Number of Awards per Fellow	8Languages	9Location of Study	10Language Proficiency	13Degrees and Disciplines	14Employment Outcomes	15Conclusions	19Methodological Issues and Recommendations for Future Surveys	20Appendix 1	20Priority Language of First Time FLAS Awardees, by Number and Percentage of Awards	21Non-Priority Language of First Time FLAS Awardees, by Number and Percentage of Awards	24Appendix 2	26Survey Instrument	26

# Executive Summary

When Congress reauthorized the *Higher Education Act of 1965*(*HEA*), by way of *the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008* (*HEOA*), it directed the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to assist grantees in developing a survey to administer to students who have completed programs authorized by *Title VI*of the *HEA* to determine postgraduate employment, education, or training. The survey on which this report is based tracks the post-graduation career trajectory of Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship recipients from 2010 to 2018. Subsequent surveys will continue to track this cohort in addition to new FLAS graduates (i.e., FLAS fellows graduating after 2018).

The FLAS fellowship program provides academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education. These fellowships assist meritorious undergraduate and graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and related area/international studies. The goal of the program is to get students to advanced proficiency levels in a less commonly taught language in order to provide a cadre of language and area studies experts to government agencies, the private sector, and academia.

This report is not an evaluation of the FLAS program or its outcomes. Rather, it is a summary of the survey responses of FLAS fellows who graduated between 2010 and 2018. This report details the results of the third biannual study of FLAS graduates. The findings of this iteration of the study were consistent with the results of the first two studies. In all three surveys, FLAS graduates gave positive feedback on FLAS experiences accompanied by gains in language proficiency and relevant experience for the careers they have entered.

According to the survey results, FLAS fellows received support to study 104 languages (59 priority languages and 45 non-priority languages as defined by ED) during their first FLAS fellowship.[footnoteRef:1] Of the 104 languages studied, Arabic (13 percent of FLAS fellows), Chinese (Mandarin) (13 percent of FLAS fellows), Portuguese (10 percent of FLAS fellows), Russian (9 percent of FLAS fellows), and Japanese (8 percent of FLAS fellows) were the most frequently studied languages for the respondents’ first FLAS fellowship. These languages are essential for economic and strategic purposes (see Section 601 of Title VI of the Higher Education Act). [1:  See pages 18-20.] 

Respondents overwhelmingly reported that FLAS fellowships have been an asset in their career trajectories. Fifty-four percent indicated that knowledge of a foreign language is a requirement or considered a key asset for their current job, and 62 percent reported that knowledge of area/international studies is a requirement or a key asset for their current job. Approximately 45 percent of respondents reported that they use their foreign language knowledge at least monthly in their current job, and 19 percent use it daily. More than 64 percent reported using their area/international studies training in their current work at least monthly, and 37 percent reported daily use. Furthermore, more than 72 percent reported that their foreign language and area/international studies training directly impacted their career path, insofar as they reported that such training was very beneficial or beneficial to their marketability and their professional development/promotion potential. Employers that have hired FLAS fellows include the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Citigroup, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Pacifica Law Group LLP, Socrata, Inc., Teach for America, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, U.S. Bank, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of State, among others.

Regarding the relationship between the FLAS fellowship and the fellows’ academic and career goals, 65 percent of fellows reported that they were “unlikely to [have achieved] advanced language proficiency,” and almost half reported that they were “unlikely” to have traveled overseas for a language immersion/study abroad experience had they not received a FLAS fellowship.

# Introduction

The Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship program (FLAS), which is authorized under section 602(b) of the *Higher Education Act of 1965*(*HEA*), as amended, and administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), supports the development of expertise in world languages and area or international studies. Through the FLAS program, ED allocates fellowships to postsecondary institutions for this purpose, aiming to increase the number of trained world language and area/international studies experts in American institutions of learning, government agencies, and businesses by broadening and deepening knowledge and skill in these areas. Fellowships can be awarded for an academic year or a summer session. Acquiring advanced proficiency in a foreign language takes many years; it is not unusual for one student to receive more than one FLAS fellowship during their course of study.

Every four years, ED, through the International Foreign Language and Education office (IFLE), conducts a peer reviewed grant competition to select institutions of higher education to receive allocations of FLAS fellowships for a four-year project period. Institutions of higher education (IHEs) apply under one or more of a number of world areas (e.g., Southeast Asia, Africa, etc.). Once awarded an allocation, IHEs must conduct competitions each year on their campuses to award academic year and summer fellowships to meritorious eligible students. FLAS coordinators on each campus administer the fellowships. FLAS fellows may carry out their foreign language and area/international studies training at   domestic and overseas institutions. In recent years, IFLE has funded approximately 1,800 academic year and summer FLAS fellowships per year.

When Congress reauthorized the *HEA*in 2008, it required grantee institutions to track the post- graduation career trajectory of FLAS fellows. Section 601 of the *HEA*states that the “Secretary shall assist grantees in developing a survey to administer to students who have completed programs under this title to determine postgraduate employment, education, or training. All grantees, where applicable, shall administer such survey once every two years and report survey results to the Secretary.”

The survey on which this report is based tracked FLAS fellowship recipients who graduated from 2010 to 2018. This report follows on the second report, published in 2015, which covered FLAS fellows who graduated in 2010–14. This report adds FLAS fellows who graduated in 2015-2018 to the ones who graduated in 2010–14. Subsequent surveys will continue to track this cohort in addition to FLAS fellows graduating after 2018.

This report is not an evaluation of the FLAS program or its outcomes. Rather, it is a summary of the survey responses of the 2010–18 FLAS fellows. Although the survey instrument contains nearly 40 items, it seeks primarily to address the following questions:

1. What languages do FLAS fellows study? Do they study them domestically or overseas? How proficient do fellows perceive themselves to have become in their chosen language(s) at the conclusion of their fellowship?

2. What degrees did the fellows pursue and in what academic disciplines? Were these degrees completed?

3. What are fellows doing now? Are they pursuing further study, or are they employed? Are they using their FLAS education, including their language skills, in their current pursuits? Have the language proficiency and area studies training the fellows gained as a part of the fellowship affected their career paths?

# Survey Design and Administration

IFLE staff members conferred with IHEs in the international education field that have extensive experience in administering FLAS training programs and allocations of fellowships to assist with the development of the FLAS tracking survey. In cooperation with the field, IFLE staff members devised an initial set of questions to collect data that meet the purposes of the study as discussed above. A technical assistance group, composed of prominent practitioners who have worked or currently work with the FLAS program and IFLE staff members, settled on a total of 42 questions along with the standard demographic questions. The survey questions, cleared by ED and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), appear in Appendix 2.

The *HEA*provides that the Secretary of Education must help grantee institutions collect data from FLAS recipients. IFLE staff members entered the survey into the Qualtrics survey platform.

Using the Qualtrics software, a link containing the survey was emailed to the FLAS coordinators at grantee institutions in May of 2019 with a request that they forward the link to FLAS fellows who had graduated in the spring of 2010 and later. Consequently, the cohort for this iteration of the study comprises FLAS fellows who graduated from 2010 to 2018. The survey remained open until July 2019.

Because this report is based on a survey of fellows who participated in the FLAS program, the conclusions are based on self-reported data. It would not have been possible within existing methodological and budgetary constraints to proceed otherwise; nonetheless, it is important to remember that the study did not seek to measure variables independently of the fellows’ own views.

# Survey Results

## Number of Responses

This analysis is based on 2,384 completed surveys.

A search of the Department’s International Resource Information System (IRIS, www.iris.ed.gov) shows that in recent years, ED has funded institutional grants providing for approximately 1,800 FLAS fellowships each year. Because that number includes academic year and summer fellowships, and students sometimes receive more than one fellowship (which may include an academic and a summer fellowship in the same year; see also next section), determining the precise number of potential respondents is difficult. This challenge is compounded by the fact that the survey is directed only at the individuals who graduated in the specified years, and we defer to the FLAS coordinators at each of the grantee institutions to determine each fellow’s graduation status and  to send the survey link only to those individuals who graduated. In addition, some institutions supplement federal funds in order to expand the number of fellowships available to award to their students. Consequently, the total number of FLAS fellowships (1,800) is inclusive of fellowships that institutions fund themselves. The initial two times the survey was administered, we did not have a procedure in place to determine response rate. For this third survey, however, we asked the FLAS coordinators to provide us with the number of survey links sent out so that we could determine the response rate based on how many responses we received. The coordinators reported that they sent out a total of 4,728 survey links. With 2,384 completed surveys, the response rate for this iteration of the survey was just over 50 percent. 

## Number of Awards per Fellow

IFLE asked respondents to report how many FLAS fellowships they received. Sixty-two percent (n= 1472) of the 2,384 respondents received only one FLAS. Approximately 38 percent (n=912) of respondents received more than one FLAS; 68 percent (n=620) of those received two fellowships and 20 percent (n=183) received three (see Figures 2 and 3). Approximately 71 percent (n=441) of the fellows were working on a graduate degree with their second FLAS, and about 81 percent (n=149) were working on a graduate degree with their third FLAS.

## Languages

For the cohort covered in this study, fellows received support to study 104 languages. For the cohort surveyed, FLAS fellows received support to study 59 “priority languages”[footnoteRef:2] and 45 non-priority languages for their first FLAS fellowship.  [2:  The Secretary of Education created a list of priority languages each year taking into account input from experts in the field as well as from other federal agencies (e.g., Department of Defense and Department of State). See Appendix 1 for a list of priority languages and non-priority languages in which fellowships were awarded.] 

Arabic (13 percent), Chinese (Mandarin) (13 percent), Portuguese (10 percent), Russian (9 percent), and Japanese (8 percent) were the most frequently studied languages during the respondents’ first FLAS fellowships. The top five languages for the respondents’ second FLAS were Arabic (13 percent), Chinese (Mandarin) (9 percent), Russian (9 percent), Portuguese (8 percent), and Japanese (7 percent). Arabic (13 percent), Chinese (Mandarin) (7 percent), Hindi (7 percent), and Russian (6 percent) were the top four languages studied by fellows during their third FLAS fellowships.

IFLE was also interested in finding out whether linguistic background influenced what languages fellows chose to study. Approximately 22 percent (518) of the fellows reported that they spoke a language other than English at home when they were growing up. Of those, Spanish (25 percent), Chinese (Mandarin) (10 percent), Korean (8 percent), Vietnamese (5 percent), and French (4 percent) were the five most spoken languages. Of the 518 fellows who were heritage learners (i.e., spoke another language at home), 26 percent (133) studied the language that they spoke at home during their first FLAS fellowships and 73 percent (380) studied another language. Nonetheless, heritage language learners were more likely to study the language that they spoke at home than they were to study any other language. Moreover, heritage learners who studied the language spoken at home reported a high level of proficiency after they completed their first FLAS fellowship. Fifty-six percent of heritage learners who studied the language they spoke at home while growing up reported having advanced proficiency after the completion of FLAS.

### Figure 1

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### Figure 2

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## Location of Study

FLAS fellowships provide opportunities for eligible students to study or conduct dissertation research abroad as a way to immerse themselves in their language and area studies training and the culture where the language of their FLAS award is used. Nonetheless, no matter the number of FLAS fellowships received and the opportunities to study overseas, most FLAS students have historically elected to use their fellowship at domestic institutions. This remained true for this survey cohort with 64 percent using their first-year FLAS fellowships at a domestic institution, 30 percent using their fellowships  at an overseas institution, and 6 percent using their fellowships at both overseas and domestic institutions (see Figure 3). The pattern holds for second FLAS fellowships as well (see Figure 4).

**Figure 3**

4

### Figure 4

### IFLE wanted to find out whether the location of study (domestic vs. overseas) influenced perceived language proficiency. As noted above, among first-time FLAS fellows, 64 percent (1420) completed their study at domestic institutions and 30 percent (658) completed their study at overseas institutions, while 6 percent (139) reported studying in both overseas and domestic locations. Fellows were asked to rate their language proficiency level at the completion of their fellowship using the Interagency Language Roundtable scale.[footnoteRef:3] For fellows who studied entirely in domestic institutions, 21 percent indicated their language proficiency as “1” (elementary proficiency), 47 percent reported “2” (limited working proficiency), and 32 percent reported “3” (general professional proficiency). For fellows who went abroad to complete their studies, 9 percent reported their proficiency level as “1,” 46 percent reported “2,” and 45 percent reported “3.”[footnoteRef:4] [3:  The Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) provides rating scales from 0 to 5 for reading, speaking, listening, writing and other areas.]  [4:  Results from a t-test, after comparing the mean proficiency levels of the overseas group and the domestic group, revealed no statistically significant difference in self-reported language proficiency between those who studied abroad and those who studied domestically. The t-test was used to test whether the mean proficiency level of the two groups differed significantly from each other. The two-tailed P value of the domestic group (mean: 2.10, SD: 0.73) and the overseas group (mean: 2.29, SD: 0.65) was 0.103. IFLE conducted t-tests for second time and third-time fellows as well. Again, no statistically significant differences were found between the mean reported proficiency level of those who studied overseas and those who studied in domestic institutions during their FLAS fellowship. The reader is cautioned about drawing conclusions, however, since in addition to being based on self-reports, no distinction can be made in this analysis between academic-year fellows and summer fellows, whose opportunity to increase proficiency would have differed from one another.] 

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## Language Proficiency

IFLE asked respondents to indicate their level of proficiency in the language they studied at the completion of their fellowship. Forty-seven percent of respondents who completed one FLAS fellowship (n=1033) reported intermediate language proficiency, and 37 percent (n=816) reported advanced proficiency. Of those who completed two FLAS fellowships, 42 percent (n=346) reported intermediate proficiency and 49 percent (n=397) reported advanced proficiency. And of those who completed three fellowships, 33 percent (n=80) reported intermediate proficiency and 61 percent (n=147) reported advanced proficiency. Twenty-six percent (n=18) of those who completed four fellowships reported intermediate proficiency, and 64 percent (n=45) reported advanced proficiency, though it should be kept in mind that many of the fellows in this category might have studied more than one language (i.e., a language different from the one they studied in their previous FLAS fellowships).

Some languages tend to be more difficult to learn for native English speakers than others, which is a factor that the study methodology did not take into account. For instance, for native English speakers, languages with different writing systems (e.g., the Chinese logogram writing system) or languages with different alphabets present challenges in learning. Languages with grammatical structures different from English, such as Russian, are challenging as well. 

### Figure 5

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## 

## Degrees and Disciplines

According to respondents, more FLAS fellowships were awarded to graduate students than to undergraduate students. This is not surprising given that the FLAS program only opened to undergraduate students for the first time in 2010 (the first cohort to be affected by the 2008 reauthorization of the *HEA*). For those reporting on their first (or only) FLAS fellowship, 42 percent were master’s degree students, 32 percent were bachelor’s degree students, 24 percent were doctoral students, and 2 percent were in another advanced professional degree program. The percentage of graduate students increases for the subsequent FLAS fellowship awards. Of those reporting on their second FLAS fellowship, 80 percent were graduate students, and 90 percent of those reporting on their third fellowship were graduate students.

With regard to discipline of study, most undergraduate FLAS fellows majored in the humanities or social sciences (see Figure 6). Seventy-nine percent majored in one of these disciplines.

**Figure 6**

## Humanities disciplines include: Area studies, Cultural studies, Communications, English language and literature, Foreign language and literature, History, International affairs, International studies, Journalism, Philosophy, Public administration, Public policy, Religion, and Urban affairs.

## Social science disciplines include: Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Linguistics, Political science and government, Psychology, and Sociology.

## STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines include: Computer and information sciences, Engineering, Life sciences, Mathematics, and Physical sciences.

## Professions include: Business, Education, Law, Social work, and Urban planning.

## Visual and performing arts include: Art, Film, and Music.

## Employment Outcomes

When asked to what extent the fellows’ current primary employment related to the fields in which they received their degrees, 79 percent of respondents reported that their principal jobs were “closely related” (48 percent) or “somewhat related” (30 percent) to the fields in which they received their degrees. Four percent of fellows were unemployed. 

“The FLAS fellowships (both summer and school year) enabled me to move from intermediate to advanced mastery of Japanese - in order to complete my research I needed to be able to engage with materials in Japanese, read scholarly as well as advanced fiction works, travel to Japan and conduct research in national archives, and also present my work to scholars in Japanese. None of these things would have been possible without those critical programs I was able to attend both domestically at the Middlebury Summer Language Institute, the UCLA summer language classes, and internationally at the Inter-University Center for the study of Japanese language in Yokohama.” 

—FLAS Fellow 2016                                                                                                                                                                                            

The survey aims to track FLAS fellows after they graduate. In particular, we are interested in finding out not only what graduated FLAS fellows are doing in the period following graduation, but also whether or not they are using their language and/or area studies training in their current pursuits. 

Respondents overwhelmingly reported that the FLAS fellowships have been an asset in their career trajectories. Fifty-four percent indicated that knowledge of a foreign language is a requirement or a key asset to their current job, and 62 percent reported that knowledge of area/international studies is a requirement or a key asset to their current job. Approximately 45 percent reported that they use their foreign language knowledge at least monthly in their current job, and 19 percent reported using it daily. More than 64 percent reported using their area/international studies training in their current work at least monthly, while 37 percent reported daily use (see figures 7 and 8). Furthermore, the majority reported that their foreign language and area/international studies’ training directly impacted their career path, insofar as they reported that such training was very beneficial or beneficial to their marketability (76 percent) and their professional development/promotion potential (72 percent).

### Figure 7

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### Figure 8

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### 

We also examined in what sectors fellows worked after their FLAS experience. Approximately 37 percent of the respondents reported working in the private sector. 

### Figure 9

Employers that have hired FLAS fellows include the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Citigroup, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Pacifica Law Group LLP, Socrata, Inc., Teach for America, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, U.S. Bank, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of State. 

After inquiring how likely it was that fellows would have achieved their academic and career goals without a FLAS fellowship, 65 percent reported that they were either “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to have achieved advanced language proficiency, and 49 percent reported that they were either “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to have traveled overseas for a language immersion/study abroad experience had they not received a FLAS fellowship. Thus, respondents believed that their FLAS fellowship(s) were especially important in helping to improve their language proficiency and in giving them greater opportunities to study abroad or to travel overseas for language immersion (see Figure 10).****

**Figure 10**

# Conclusions

This report summarizes the results from the third FLAS tracking study, which added FLAS graduates from 2015–18 to the FLAS graduates from 2010–12 (who were surveyed for the third time) and from 2013-2014 FLAS graduates (who were surveyed for the second time). The survey data for this cohort demonstrate that graduated FLAS fellows tend to use their training in their jobs. The survey will add the 2019-2020 cohort in 2021, with a view toward both generating longitudinal data and improving on survey design and administration.

Key findings of the 2015-2018 study are the following:

· FLAS fellows studied 104 languages during their first fellowship; 57 percent of the languages studied were considered priority languages.

· Approximately 30 percent of fellows used their first FLAS fellowship to study at overseas institutions.

· More than three-quarters of respondents are working in fields that are related to the area of study during their fellowship.

· Fifty-four percent indicated that knowledge of a foreign language is a requirement or a key asset to their current job, and 62 percent reported that knowledge of area/international studies is a requirement or a key asset to their current job.

· Approximately 64 percent reported using their area/international studies training in their current work at least monthly, with 37 percent reporting daily use.

· Sixty-five percent reported that they were “unlikely to have achieved advanced language proficiency” without the FLAS fellowship.

# Appendix 1

## Priority Language of First Time FLAS Awardees, by Number and Percentage of Awards

## 

## Non-Priority Language of First Time FLAS Awardees, by Number and Percentage of Awards

# Appendix 2

## Survey Instrument

**Survey of Post-Graduates for International Education Fellowship Recipients**

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number, 1840-0829. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection is voluntary. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden to Timothy Duvall. U.S. Department of Education, International and Foreign Language Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202 or email timothy.duvall@ed.gov and reference the OMB Control Number 1840-0829. Note: Please do not return the completed FLAS Tracking Survey to this address.   

Introduction   

This survey asks about your employment and education after the completion of the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship program. The purpose of this survey is to report to U.S. Department of Education on the impact of this taxpayer-funded program, which will help ensure future students can also benefit from the fellowships. The survey is a legislative requirement of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. Your answers will be provided to the university that awarded your fellowship. Your university will report fellow responses in the aggregate to U.S. Department of Education. The survey is voluntary and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Thank you for your time.

1. In what year did you graduate from the degree program in which you received your fellowship?

2010  (1) 

2011  (2) 

2012  (3) 

2013  (4) 

2014  (5) 

2015  (6) 

2016  (7) 

2017  (8) 

2018  (9) 

2019  (10) 

2020  (11) 

2. What is the total number of FLAS fellowships you received?

1  (1) 

2  (2) 

3  (3) 

4  (4) 

5  (6) 

6  (7) 

7  (8) 

8  (9) 

9  (10) 

10  (11) 

3. For each of your FLAS awards, please answer the following questions:

4. If you received a FLAS award for a language other than the ones listed above, please specify the language(s) here:

________________________________________________________________

5. Select the discipline that best describes your undergraduate degree.

Anthropology  (1) 

Area studies  (2) 

Art  (3) 

Business (accounting, finance, etc.)  (4) 

Communications  (5) 

Computer and information sciences  (6) 

Cultural studies  (7) 

Economics  (8) 

Education  (9) 

Engineering  (10) 

English language and literature  (11) 

Film  (12) 

Foreign language and literature  (13) 

Geography  (14) 

History  (15) 

International affairs  (16) 

International studies  (17) 

Journalism  (18) 

Law  (19) 

Life sciences (including health sciences)  (20) 

Linguistics  (21) 

Mathematics  (22) 

Music  (23) 

Philosophy  (24) 

Physical sciences  (25) 

Political science and government  (26) 

Psychology  (27) 

Public administration  (28) 

Public policy  (29) 

Religion  (30) 

Social work  (31) 

Sociology  (32) 

Urban affairs  (33) 

Urban planning  (34) 

Other  (35) 

6. In addition to the degree you pursued during your fellowship, are you enrolled in or have you completed any other degrees or certificates?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

7. Number of additional degrees or certificates you have either completed or are working toward:

1  (1) 

2  (2) 

3  (3) 

4  (4) 

5+  (5) 

8. Have you completed this degree or is it in progress?

Completed  (1) 

In progress  (2) 

9. What type of additional degree or certificate are you working towards or have you completed? If you are working towards or have completed more than one degree, mark the level for the highest degree.

Bachelor's degree  (1) 

Master's degree  (2) 

Doctorate  (3) 

Other advanced professional degree  (4) 

Certificate  (5) 

Other (please specify)  (6) ________________________________________________

10. What is the primary field of study for this additional degree or certificate?

Anthropology  (1) 

Area studies  (2) 

Art  (3) 

Business (accounting, finance, etc.)  (4) 

Communications  (5) 

Computer and information sciences  (6) 

Cultural studies  (7) 

Economics  (8) 

Education  (9) 

Engineering  (10) 

English language and literature  (11) 

Film  (12) 

Foreign language and literature  (13) 

Geography  (14) 

History  (15) 

International affairs  (16) 

International studies  (17) 

Journalism  (18) 

Law  (19) 

Life sciences (including health sciences)  (20) 

Linguistics  (21) 

Mathematics  (22) 

Music  (23) 

Philosophy  (24) 

Physical sciences  (25) 

Political science and government  (26) 

Psychology  (27) 

Public administration  (28) 

Public policy  (29) 

Religion  (30) 

Social work  (31) 

Sociology  (32) 

Urban affairs  (33) 

Urban planning  (34) 

Other  (35) 

11. Does this degree have a foreign language component?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

12. Does this degree have an international and/or area studies component?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

13. How many jobs for pay have you held since your FLAS fellowship ended? Include full-time and part-time jobs. Do NOT include research or teaching that you did in conjunction with your work toward the degree supported by the FLAS fellowship.

0  (1) 

1  (2) 

2  (3) 

3  (4) 

4  (5) 

5  (6) 

6  (7) 

7  (8) 

8+  (9) 

14. What is your current employment status?

Employed, full-time  (1) 

Employed, part-time  (2) 

Unemployed (not working right now, but actively looking for work  (3) 

Full-time student  (4) 

Out of the workforce and not looking for work (e.g., stay-at-home parent, retired, disabled)  (5) 

15. How many years have you been employed since the completion of your highest degree?

0  (3) 

1  (4) 

2  (5) 

3  (6) 

4  (7) 

5  (8) 

6  (9) 

7  (10) 

8  (11) 

9+  (12) 

16. Using the job categories listed below, choose the one that best describes your current position. (Note: if you are a Consultant or Researcher, please select the area most relevant to your consulting or research expertise)

Accounting  (1) 

Admin & Clerical  (2) 

Banking  (3) 

Biotech  (4) 

Biology  (5) 

Business development  (6) 

Communications, Media, Journalism  (7) 

Consultant  (8) 

Customer Service  (9) 

Cybersecurity  (10) 

Design  (11) 

Education - Teaching  (12) 

Education - Other  (13) 

Engineering  (14) 

Entertainment  (15) 

Environment  (16) 

Executive  (17) 

Finance  (18) 

General Business  (19) 

Federal Government  (20) 

Health Care  (21) 

Hotel - Hospitality  (22) 

Human Resources  (23) 

Information Technology  (24) 

Insurance  (25) 

International Development  (26) 

Legal  (27) 

Library  (28) 

Linguistics  (29) 

Management  (30) 

Manufacturing  (31) 

Marketing  (32) 

Museum  (33) 

Nonprofit - Social Services  (34) 

Pharmaceutical  (35) 

Professional Services  (36) 

Purchasing - Procurement  (37) 

QA - Quality Control  (38) 

Real Estate  (39) 

Research  (40) 

Restaurant - Food Service  (41) 

Retail  (42) 

Sales  (43) 

Science  (44) 

Skilled Labor - Trades  (45) 

State/Local Government  (46) 

Telecommunications  (47) 

Training  (48) 

Transportation  (49) 

U.S. Military  (50) 

Other  (51) 

17. Please specify branch of U.S. military.

United States Air Force  (1) 

United States Army  (2) 

United States Marine Corps  (3) 

United States Navy  (4) 

United States Coast Guard  (5) 

18. Which one of the following sector best describes your principal employer?

Private sector business (includes self-employed)  (1) 

Non-profit organization  (2) 

Federal Government  (3) 

State government (includes some state colleges and universities  (4) 

Local government (includes some public school districts)  (5) 

Foreign/international  (6) 

U.S. Military  (7) 

Other  (8) 

19. If you work for the U.S. federal government, for which agency do you work?

Agriculture Department  (1) 

Commerce Department  (2) 

Congressional Branch (U.S. Congress, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress  (3) 

Defense Department  (4) 

Education Department  (5) 

Energy Department  (6) 

Environmental Protection Agency  (7) 

Health and Human Services Department (excluding NIH)  (8) 

Homeland Security  (9) 

Housing and Urban Development Department  (10) 

Interior Department  (11) 

Justice Department  (12) 

Labor Department  (13) 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration  (14) 

National Institutes of Health (NIH)  (15) 

National Science Foundation  (16) 

State Department  (17) 

Transportation Department  (18) 

Treasury Department  (19) 

Veterans Affairs  (20) 

White House  (21) 

Other national security agency  (22) 

Other federal agency (please specify)  (23) ________________________________________________

I prefer not to disclose  (24) 

20. Is your current employer an educational institution?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

21. Please indicate the type of educational institution where you worked.

Pre-Kindergarten  (1) 

Elementary or secondary school system  (2) 

2-year college, community college, or technical institute  (3) 

4-year public college or university  (4) 

4-year private college or university  (5) 

Foreign education institution  (7) 

Other  (8) 

22. Please indicate other type of education institution.

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23. To what extent is your work in your principal job related to the field in which you received your degree (the one(s) you were working on during your FLAS fellowship(s))? Is it...(mark one answer)

Closely related  (1) 

Somewhat related  (2) 

Not related  (3) 

24. Is knowledge of a foreign language a requirement or considered a key asset for your current job?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

25. Is your international and/or area studies training a requirement or considered a key asset for your current job?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

26. How often in your current job are you called on to use the foreign language(s) you studied in your fellowship(s)?

Daily  (1) 

Weekly  (2) 

Monthly  (3) 

Less than once a month  (4) 

Never  (5) 

27. How often in your current job are you called on to use the international and/or area studies training you received during your fellowship(s)?

Daily  (1) 

Weekly  (2) 

Monthly  (3) 

Less than once a month  (4) 

Never  (5) 

28. Please rate, in your own estimation, how the language proficiency and area studies training you gained as a part of the fellowship has affected your career path in the following ways:

29. Please indicate how likely it is you would have accomplished any of the following if you had not received fellowship support. Without the support of this fellowship, I still would have:

30. If you received additional fellowships or awards after participating in the fellowship program, please check which of the following you received:

Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship  (1) 

Boren award  (2) 

Charles B. Rangel International Affairs fellowship  (3) 

Freeman award  (4) 

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship  (5) 

Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad fellowship  (6) 

Fulbright fellowship  (7) 

Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)  (8) 

International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) award  (9) 

Jacob K. Javits award  (10) 

National Security Language Initiative for Youth Award  (11) 

National Science Foundation fellowship or grant  (12) 

Social Science Research Council fellowship or award  (13) 

Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs fellowship  (14) 

Mellon fellowship  (15) 

University departmental/division grant  (16) 

Other (please specify)  (17) ________________________________________________

Not applicable (N/A)  (18) 

31. Have you ever made use of your foreign language and/or area studies training by consulting or volunteering for any of the following? (check all that apply)

No--not applicable  (1) 

Elementary or secondary institution  (2) 

4-year public or private institution of higher education  (3) 

2-year college, community college, or technical institute  (4) 

Domestic nonprofit organization  (5) 

For-profit organization  (6) 

Foreign government  (7) 

International non-governmental organization  (8) 

Media  (9) 

Minority-serving institution  (10) 

Multi-lateral organization (e.g., World Health Organization, OECD, etc.)  (11) 

Federal government agency  (16) 

State government agency  (17) 

Local government agency  (18) 

Peace Corps  (19) 

U.S. Military  (20) 

Other  (21) 

32. Please specify branch of U.S. military.

United States Air Force  (1) 

United States Army  (2) 

United States Marine Corps  (3) 

United States Navy  (4) 

United States Coast Guard  (5) 

33. If applicable, please describe how you used your foreign language and/or area studies training as a consultant or volunteer:

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________________________________________________________________

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34. Please indicate years of service in the Peace Corps.

Less than 1  (1) 

1  (2) 

2  (3) 

3  (4) 

4  (5) 

5  (6) 

6  (7) 

7  (8) 

8  (9) 

9+  (10) 

35. If you have consulted for the U.S. federal government, with which agency or agencies did you work? Select all that apply.

Agriculture Department  (1) 

Commerce Department  (2) 

Congressional Branch (US Congress, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress)  (3) 

Defense Department  (4) 

Education Department  (5) 

Energy Department  (6) 

Environmental Protection Agency  (7) 

Health and Human Services Department (excluding NIH)  (8) 

Homeland Security  (9) 

Housing and Urban Development Department  (10) 

Interior Department  (11) 

Justice Department  (12) 

Labor Department  (13) 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration  (14) 

National Institutes of Health (NIH)  (15) 

National Science Foundation  (16) 

State Department  (17) 

Transportation Department  (18) 

Treasury Department  (19) 

Veterans Affairs  (20) 

White House  (21) 

Other national security agency  (22) 

Other federal agency (please specify)  (23) ________________________________________________

I prefer not to disclose  (24) 

36. Please provide details on your work with this federal agency or agencies

________________________________________________________________

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37. What is your sex?

Male  (1) 

Female  (2) 

38. In what year were you born?

Before 1960  (1) 

1960  (2) 

1961  (3) 

1962  (4) 

1963  (5) 

1964  (6) 

1965  (7) 

1966  (8) 

1967  (9) 

1968  (10) 

1969  (11) 

1970  (12) 

1971  (13) 

1972  (14) 

1973  (15) 

1974  (16) 

1975  (17) 

1976  (18) 

1977  (19) 

1978  (20) 

1979  (21) 

1980  (22) 

1981  (23) 

1982  (24) 

1983  (25) 

1984  (26) 

1985  (27) 

1986  (28) 

1987  (29) 

1988  (30) 

1989  (31) 

1990  (32) 

1991  (33) 

1992  (34) 

1993  (35) 

1994  (36) 

1995  (37) 

1996  (38) 

1997  (39) 

1998  (40) 

1999  (41) 

2000  (42) 

2001  (43) 

39. Are you Hispanic or Latino?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

40. What is your racial background? (check all that apply)

American Indian or Alaska Native  (1) 

Asian  (2) 

Black or African American  (3) 

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander  (4) 

White  (5) 

Other  (6) 

41. Did you speak a language other than English at home when you were growing up?

Yes  (1) 

No  (2) 

42. If yes, what language did you speak at home (if more than one, select the primary language)

Akan (Twi-Fante)  (1) 

Albanian  (2) 

Amharic  (3) 

Arabic (all dialects)  (4) 

Armenian  (5) 

Azeri (Azerbaijani)  (6) 

Balochi  (7) 

Bamanakan (Bamana, Bambara, Mandikan, Mandingo, Maninka, Dyula)  (8) 

Belarusian  (9) 

Bengali (Bangla)  (10) 

Berber (all languages)  (11) 

Bosnian  (12) 

Bulgarian  (13) 

Burmese  (14) 

Cebuano (Visayan)  (15) 

Chechen  (16) 

Chinese (Cantonese)  (17) 

Chinese (Gan)  (18) 

Chinese (Mandarin)  (19) 

Chinese (Min)  (20) 

Chinese (Wu)  (21) 

Croatian  (22) 

Dari  (23) 

Dinka  (24) 

French  (25) 

Georgian  (26) 

German  (27) 

Gujarati  (28) 

Hausa  (29) 

Hebrew (Modern)  (30) 

Hindi  (31) 

Igbo  (32) 

Indonesian  (33) 

Japanese  (34) 

Javanese  (35) 

Kannada  (36) 

Kashmiri  (37) 

Kazakh  (38) 

Khmer (Cambodian)  (39) 

Kirghiz  (40) 

Korean  (41) 

Kurdish (Kurmanji)  (42) 

Kurdish (Sorani)  (43) 

Lao  (44) 

Malay (Bahasa Melayu or Malaysian)  (45) 

Malayalam  (46) 

Marathi  (47) 

Mongolian  (48) 

Nepali  (49) 

Oromo  (50) 

Panjabi  (51) 

Pashto  (52) 

Persian (Farsi)  (53) 

Polish  (54) 

Portuguese (all varieties)  (55) 

Quechua  (56) 

Romanian  (57) 

Russian  (58) 

Serbian  (59) 

Sinhala (Sinhalese)  (60) 

Somali  (61) 

Spanish  (62) 

Swahili  (63) 

Tagalog  (64) 

Tajik  (65) 

Tamil  (66) 

Telugu  (67) 

Thai  (68) 

Tibetan  (69) 

Tigrigna  (70) 

Turkish  (71) 

Turkmen  (72) 

Ukrainian  (73) 

Urdu  (74) 

Uyghur/Uigur  (75) 

Uzbek  (76) 

Vietnamese  (77) 

Wolof  (78) 

Xhosa  (79) 

Yoruba  (80) 

Zulu  (81) 

Other  (82) 

43. Please specify other language.

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44. If your experience with the fellowship program has been beneficial to your career, please explain why and provide specific examples.

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45. Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

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46. Please name the organization and geographic location where you currently work or study.

Organization  (1) ________________________________________________

State or territory (if U.S.)  (2) ________________________________________________

Country (if not U.S.)  (3) ________________________________________________

How many FLAS Awards did you receive?

<1%

Self-Reported Language Proficiency of FLAS Fellows

Undergraduate Degree Discipline

Number of FLAS fellows 

How often in your current job are you called on to use the international and/or area studies training you received during your FLAS fellowships?

Which one of the following best describes your principal employer?

How likely is it that you would have accomplished any of the following had you not received fellowship support?

<1%

How likely is it that you would have accomplished any of the following had you not received fellowship support?

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