Change in Foreign Language Requirement

Regardless of your original planned graduation date, if the language requirement is the only requirement you have not fulfilled, you are now eligible to receive your degree. Please contact the registrar at fletcherregistrar@tufts.edu. The Fletcher Registrar’s Office will then review your records. Please know that degrees may only be conferred by the Board of Trustees during degree granting periods: August, February, and May. Degrees will not be conferred at any other time.

We seek to better meet student needs. Fletcher values foreign language skills among a broad range of other skills that students need to develop in order to best meet their personal and career ambitions. We seek to provide students with the best possible educational opportunities to embark on global leadership. The language practice at the school did not align with that objective.

We will continue to offer students the opportunity to demonstrate their language skills and have them documented. However, as a requirement, the foreign language exams had become more of a barrier than an opportunity for many students, including those who enrolled without prior fluency in a foreign language, those who specialized in an indigenous or rare language, or those with learning disabilities. 

Students who already have proficiency in a foreign language may want that proficiency documented on their transcript. This decision is for each student to make.

Fletcher MALD and MIB students can petition to take up to two language courses as part of their degree. All Fletcher students have the option to audit language classes, with the agreement of a language instructor.

In the coming year we will start a process to move from an unsatisfactory foreign language requirement to a foreign language program that facilitates students demonstrating language proficiency in a consistent and broadly recognized manner.

In the meantime, Fletcher students can continue to petition to take up to two language courses as part of their degree program. All Fletcher students continue to have the option to audit language classes, with the agreement of a language instructor. All Fletcher students continue to have the option to take the language exams and have their passing results included on their transcript.