It is with heavy hearts that we announce the cancellation of our summer 2021 programs. The IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages (IUHPFL) is structured to provide an immersion experience for our students in their host communities. After conversations with Indiana University leadership and our partners in the U.S. and abroad, we have concluded that the ongoing pandemic precludes that possibility due to several insurmountable factors. As you would anticipate, our concerns range from slow rollout of country vaccination programs, to the emergence of new strains of the virus on multiple continents, and the unpredictable regulatory environment around travel permission, testing, and quarantine requirements. In many IUHPFL host countries, curfews and lockdowns remain in place, creating a level of uncertainty where we cannot reasonably plan for the health and safety of participants in order for them to learn and grow in the intensive cultural immersion experience that is the heart of our program.
As disappointed as we all are, we want to commend our summer 2021 applicants on their outstanding achievements in foreign language study and encourage them not to let go of their keen interest in the wider world. Indiana University has every intention of resuming IUHPFL in summer 2022. Those who are eligible to participate in summer 2022 are those who were sophomores during the 2019-20 school year, as well as those who are currently sophomores or juniors. Students in the latter group who have recently completed their applications, will receive their acceptance status email in the coming days. In August, we will reach out to all eligible prior applicants with details about how to express their interest in summer 2022 and what steps they’ll need to take.
We encourage students who will not be eligible to participate in summer 2022 to please keep the faith and know that wonderful study abroad opportunities await them at the university level. If they are considering any of Indiana University’s campuses for their college plans, for example, they’ll be pleased to know that the IU Office of Overseas Study offers over 380 study abroad programs with substantial scholarships available. The Bloomington campus was recently ranked 5th in the nation by the Institute of International Education for the highest number of U.S. students studying abroad in a single academic year. Plus, over 80 foreign languages are taught at IU - more than any other university in the United States!
Additionally, there are a variety of online language study courses and other virtual experiences available to high school students this summer through IU and other providers. Here is just a sampling of programs students might want to check out (some deadlines are coming up soon, so they shouldn’t delay):
- IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies Language Workshop
- IU Kelley School of Business: Business is Global (BIG)
- Additional Virtual IU Pre-College Programs and Camps
- CET Academic Programs – Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese virtual courses
We wish to thank students, parents, and world language teachers throughout Indiana for their continued interest in IUHPFL and for all the hard work they undertook to complete application materials and to stay in touch with us during this unprecedented and precarious time. It is our fondest wish to have as many prior applicants as possible on board for summer 2022. In the meantime, we wish all our supporters happiness and good health. Together, we will make it to the other side of this crisis and we’ll finally celebrate being able to live our languages again!