<div dir="ltr">
<h1>Sea change in varsity language policies</h1>
<span class="">
November 22 2015 at 02:52pm <br>
By Noloyiso Mtembu
</span>
<img src="http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/iol-news-pic-maties-stellenbosch-university-1.1897404%21/image/256648886.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_300/256648886.jpg" alt="iol news pic Maties Stellenbosch University" title="" class="">
<span class="">INDEPENDENT MEDIA</span>
<span class="">File picture: David Ritchie</span>
<span class=""></span>
<p>Cape Town - Stellenbosch University (SU) management’s announcement of
English as the primary language of teaching and communication from as
early as January has turned the spotlight on language policies of other
Afrikaans institutions. </p>
<p>SU’s changed language policy awaits approval by its council at the end of the month before it can be implemented. </p>
<p>An intellectual and financial hub of Afrikaner nationalism during
apartheid, SU announced last week teaching would primarily be in
English. </p>
<p>It would also become the lingua franca of meetings at student
residences as well as of administration, including meetings, official
documents and services at reception desks and the call centre. </p>
<p>Two hundred and twenty sixSU academic and support staff endorsed the decision last week. </p>
<p>“A decision to make English the language of meetings, documents and
university business enables SU to effectively move beyond its political
past,” they said. </p>
<p>“Developing an inclusive and shared institutional ethos based on
equal worth, dignity and respect would establish our university as a
welcoming place for students, academics, and all its workers”. </p>
<p>In contrast, Afrikaans advocacy groups like AfriForum and the FW De Klerk Foundation are dismayed by SU’s shift. </p>
<p>Countrywide, inclusivity is the trend as previously Afrikaans-preference institutionsmove towards multilingualism. </p>
<p>Elsenburg College outside Stellenbosch – where tension flipped into
violence between black and white students over Afrikaans’s continued
superior status in September – agreed on parallel English and Afrikaans
classes as an interim mediation measure. </p>
<p>Speaking to Weekend Argus last week, its spokeswoman Petro van Rhyn
said they would implement a multilingual language policy in line with
the Provincial Language Act. </p>
<p>“The practical implications are still being finalised. The policy
will underline the inclusive and quality education we present at the
institution,” she said. </p>
<p>North West University already offers classes in English and Afrikaans – set to increase next year. </p>
<p>This year, students formed an activist group, ReformPUK, to “address
questions of transformation, high fees, academic and financial
exclusions and the outsourcing of work”. </p>
<p>University spokesman Louis Jacobs said its Potchefstroom campus was
largely Afrikaans but it plans to “expand our parallel medium
offering”, so that English-language classes will increase. </p>
<p>He said students already used devices aiding translationfrom Afrikaans to English. </p>
<p>However, ReformPUK said translation remains one of their grievances with the university’s language policy. </p>
<p>The group said: “To date, black and English-speaking students are
oppressed by Afrikaans medium education with translation services that
are totally useless.” </p>
<p>They accused the university of negotiating in bad faith when, in
October, it promised them an audience with the university council
scweekheduled to meet on Friday, if they ceased #FeesMustFall protests. </p>
<p>Jacobs dismissed Reform PUK’s bad faith charge and said students had
never been promised an audience with its university council. <br></p><p><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/sea-change-in-varsity-language-policies-1.1949008#.VlIX1OKU2-c">http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/sea-change-in-varsity-language-policies-1.1949008#.VlIX1OKU2-c</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div>