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Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program


The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program provides scholarships to U.S. undergraduates with financial need for study abroad. Established under the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, Gilman Scholarships provide up to $5,000 for American students to pursue overseas study for college credit.

Students studying critical need languages are eligible for up to $3,000 in additional funding as part of the Gilman Critical Need Language Supplement program. Those critical need languages include:

  • Arabic (all dialects)
  • Chinese (all dialects)
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • Japanese
  • Turkic (Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek)
  • Persian (Farsi, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Tajiki)
  • Indic (Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi)
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Swahili
  • Portuguese

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program provides scholarships to U.S. undergraduates with financial need for study abroad. Established under the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, Gilman Scholarships provide up to $5,000 for American students to pursue overseas study for college credit.

Students studying critical need languages are eligible for up to $3,000 in additional funding as part of the Gilman Critical Need Language Supplement program. Those critical need languages include:

  • Arabic (all dialects)
  • Chinese (all dialects)
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • Japanese
  • Turkic (Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek)
  • Persian (Farsi, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Tajiki)
  • Indic (Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi)
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Swahili
  • Portuguese


For detailed eligibility requirements, please visit the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program information page.


For more information about this program and all other education  programs offered by the U.S. Department of State, please visit the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Exchange Programs website.