The South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI) is a program of the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes and co-administered by the UW-Madison Language Program Office and the Center for South Asia.
SASLI is sponsored by a consortium of National Resource Centers for South Asia and National Resource and FLAS-granting institutions for South Asian languages, funded by the Department of Education: Columbia University, Cornell University, Syracuse University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin, University of Washington, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
SASLI was formally created in 2001-2002 by joint action of the Directors of the eleven Title VI South Asia National Resource Centers in cooperation with the US Department of Education. The International Education Program Service of the US Department of Education ratified the decision in 2002, and classes were first offered in the summer of 2003 on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. Operation on the UW-Madison campus is subject to renewal in five-year increments, following favorable review by the Board of Trustees and the continued availability of local resources to support the Institute.
SASLI is dedicated to training students, faculty, and professionals in the languages of South Asia through its primary and secondary missions:
Primary Mission
SASLI’s primary focus is two-fold: [1] South Asian language instruction and [2] the professional training of instructors in language pedagogy appropriate to South Asia. To achieve these goals, SASLI offers intensive summer sessions of approximately a dozen languages at the elementary and intermediate levels, pedagogy workshops for teaching best practices, and the application of newly developed language-learning tools.
Secondary Mission
SASLI likewise strives to effect secondary goals of increasing the number and quality of trained specialists to teach language, including from abroad, and to generate a close collaboration among other South Asian language-learning institutions, both domestic and foreign. Any organized activity that furthers those larger goals is considered to fall within the purview of the organization, and SASLI may, from time to time, effect additional individual or institutional collaborations to meet these goals.