A decades-old IU language immersion program for high schoolers is on hiatus, with no clear plans to resume operation.
The Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages gives high school students the opportunity to study and live in a foreign country over the summer. Students give up their phones and pledge to speak only the target language for the duration of the program, ensuring complete immersion in their host country.
They live with host families and attend classes in the mornings, while afternoons are filled with cultural excursions. Since 1962, the program has sent nearly 9,000 students abroad.
IU first shared news of IUHPFL’s hiatus on Aug. 13, when Jennifer Engel, Associate Vice President for International Affairs and Education Abroad, sent an email to those closely affiliated with the program.
In her email, Engel cited declining enrollment as part of the reason for the decision.
“We do not yet have a set timeline for this hiatus,” Engel said. “Our priority is to ensure that any decisions about the program’s future are made thoughtfully and with the best interests of our students and stakeholders in mind.”
Dr. Engel did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
IU junior Jackson Wright studied German in Graz, Austria, in 2022 as part of the program. After he matriculated at IU, he became a student intern for the program, helping to share it with high school students through social media.
“I was a completely different person when I came back from Austria,” he said. “It was a very new experience, but also one that completely changed my life for the better.”
Wright credits the experience with teaching him self-reliance and independence; without his phone, he couldn’t look up words in German when he struggled with the language or call friends and family back home to ask for advice. Wright says the transition to college was seamless thanks to his time with the program.
“I’ve been across the world on my own for five weeks, I can be an hour away from home and be fine,” he said.
He also said studying abroad helped him find his career path and is now majoring in German education, hoping to teach the language. He said he has often imagined telling his future students about the program and the effect it had on him.
Jane Gilbert, a doctoral candidate at IU and program veteran after four summers as a French instructor, said she has seen her students grow tremendously both linguistically and personally during their time abroad.
“They get so much more independent and confident, and they end up really proud of themselves for having accomplished something so difficult,” she said.
To advocate for the reinstatement of the program, Gilbert created a website where alumni and prospective students can share their thoughts and experiences. She hopes to bring the responses to Engel.
“It’s just a fantastic program and we risk losing a lot more than just a couple weeks of a summer trip,” Gilbert said. “It’s a lot of college readiness, interpersonal relationships, the career trajectory.”
Corentin Mazet was also a French instructor with the program for three summers. Though he could make the same amount of money and do less work staying in the states as a summer IU instructor, Mazet said, he loves IUHPFL for the relationship he creates with his students.
He worries that the longer the program is on hiatus, the less chance there is of it being reinstated. As time goes by, he said, the university will lose valuable connections with host families and organizations in the host countries.
“It’s really the people that make it run,” he said. “And losing that contact with the people is going to make it more difficult.”
UPDATE: This story’s headline has been updated to reflect the age of the program
