UGA’s Russian Flagship Program renewed for additional four years

The University of Georgia’s Russian Flagship Program secured a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Security Education Program in the U.S. Department of Defense to continue helping students from all fields achieve intercultural competency and professional-level proficiency in Russian, a language considered vital to national security and economic competitiveness by the Department of Defense.

Administered by the Institute of International Education, the elite grant program helps students secure scholarships to study abroad in Flagship-approved Russian-speaking countries to master the language while taking classes in their major, holding professional internships, and completing a year-long capstone study.

“Establishing a Language Flagship program is a formidable challenge given the program’s level of rigor and multifaceted nature,” said Russian Flagship director Victoria Hasko, an associate professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education. “Two years later, we can say that our UGA students—most of whom are double or triple majors—have risen up to the challenge of intensive Russian Flagship programming with tremendous dedication; they already demonstrate a level of proficiency, progress, and retention that few Russian language programs can boast in the U.S. We have the privilege of working with future leaders whose global expertise will serve Georgia and the nation.”

[Read the full story on our website](https://coe.uga.edu/news/2020/08/ugas-russian-flagship-program-renewed-for-additional-four-years).