SILMW for 2025 will take place from June 16 to August 8, 2025. The institute will be fully face-to-face unless regulations change.*

Summer Institute for the Languages of the Muslim world (SILMW) is a program offered by the Less Commonly Taught Languages Program at the University of Illinois since 2008. SILMW provides a unique opportunity to explore the languages and cultures of the Muslim World while interacting with experts on the region. In addition to classroom instruction, SILMW offers a variety of extra-curricular learning activities designed to enhance and enrich the language learning process, provides additional channels for language contact, and exposes students to the traditions of the communities of the Muslim World.

The institute is held annually at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Classes take place during the Summer semester. University students earn between 4 and 10 credit hours for taking one or two intensive language courses over the period of 4-8 weeks. SILMW offers exciting opportunities to immerse in the target language through up to 4 hours of daily class instruction and daily co-curricular activities, including research forums, conversation tables, cooking classes, film series, field trips and so much more! Proficiency in any language endorsed by SILMW program presents a competitive advantage in the modern day job market.

SILMW offers intensive courses in Arabic, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, and Wolof. SILMW promotes the study of the Less Commonly Taught Languages, critical to US national interest in the 21st century.

FLAS Fellowships can be applied toward SILMW. 

*For more information regarding university's Covid-19 response, please visit here.