[lg policy] South Africa: English gets the nod from Maties Senate

[Harold Schiffman]

 English gets the nod from Maties Senate November 28 2015 at 11:52am
By Weekend Argus Reporter [image: Copy of ca p6 MAIN Open Stellenbosch
done] INDEPENDENT
MEDIA Open Stellenbosch members stage a march at Stellenbosch University.
File photo: David Ritchie

Cape Town - The majority of Stellenbosch University’s Senate members on
Friday approved plans to have classes taught in English next year at the
traditionally Afrikaans language educational institution.

The university’s Student Representative Council said in a statement that it
was “pleased” at this decision.

The SRC said “Senate has approved the recommendations made by the rector’s
management team on November 12”.

“This motion by the Senate clearly solidifies campus support for
inclusivity,”

They also called on the university council “to see this stance by Senate as
a convincing factor in their decisions regarding the future of language
policy at SU”.



If Stellenbosch University’s language policy proposals are approved,
students will be able to study in English and Afrikaans next year.

This follows a months-long campaign by the Open Stellenbosch movement which
has campaigned for access to education in English.

Open Stellenbosch has argued that offering the majority of the university’s
classes in Afrikaans and not other languages meant that access to education
had been limited.

In response, the university announced recently that it wanted English as
the primary teaching and communication language from as early as January.

The university’s changed language policy awaits approval by its Council at
the end of this month.

If passed, English would become the lingua franca of meetings at residences
as well as of administration, including meetings, official documents and
services at reception desks.

Afrikaans advocacy groups like AfriForum and the FW de Klerk Foundation
have expressed dismay at the language shift.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/english-gets-the-nod-from-maties-senate-1.1952053#.VlnNhOKU2-c


-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
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)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20151128/7c5e7618/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list