The five-yearly revision of the NWU’s language policy and plan is taking place now and includes an intensive consultation process with various structures and stakeholders.

Revising the language policy and plan is also part of the bigger picture: all NWU policies are in the process of being reviewed following the adoption of a new strategy, structure and Statute.

 

A variety of stakeholders have been or will be invited to give feedback and provide input. They include faculty boards, the Senate, Convocation, academics, support services staff, student representatives and the Institutional Forum.

 

As the Convocation represents all our alumni, an invitation to provide input on the draft LPP was sent out to all Convocation members on 10 March.

An electronic language survey is presently being conducted to solicit input from staff and students. The Senate, as the academic governance body, will have the opportunity to provide input into the policy and plan before it is presented to the NWU Council in June 2018 for consideration.

 

Functional and flexible

 

The current language policy is a functionally multilingual policy, which means that it can be adapted in a flexible manner as needed in a variety of situations. An example of this flexibility is the use of parallel-medium classes on our Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses. Another is the practice of simultaneously interpreting classes either from or into Setswana, English and Afrikaans.

 

“It is clear that we will not end up with a language policy or plan that provides mono-lingual language provision since both our Statute and the national language policy for higher education demand that we promote multilingualism,” says Prof Dan Kgwadi, vice-chancellor.