The ULFE (formerly the Unit for Language Management) was established in 1993 to develop innovative and economically sustainable solutions for the establishment of institutional multilingualism in South Africa. It functioned as a self-sustaining entity with the objective to provide a fully-fledged tertiary programme to train language practitioners. Considering South Africa’s multilingual society, this was seen as a necessity. Consequently, the ULFE landed various government and non-government contracts as well as internationally funded projects to assist with the training of language practitioners.

Gradually the ULFE branched into research. Its focus shifted from providing services and training to being a leading research unity within the field of language management. This entailed various projects within the sociolinguistic and applied linguistic sphere, from which research outputs were published in the form of books and articles. The aim was to increase the current knowledge base of language matters in South Africa. In 2018 the ULFE was incorporated with the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies. The various projects managed by the UFLE accompanied the move. For more information, see more on our Research page.