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UFS welcomes new Director for Academy for Multilingualism

02 March 2022 | Story Nonkululeko Nxumalo | Photo Charl Devenish

The University of the Free State (UFS) welcomes Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane as the new Director of the Academy for Multilingualism. This follows her previous role as Senior Lecturer and Module Lead for Academic Literacy and Reasoning at the Nelson Mandela University Medical School.

With the academy established in 2021, Dr Ngubane’s main priority is to continue to promote multilingualism through various academic and community-based projects and initiatives, with particular emphasis on Sesotho, Afrikaans, and isiZulu.

Dr Ngubane’s role at the UFS

“My role is to drive my team towards achieving the mandate set out by the academy,” she said. Other responsibilities include, “managing the development and implementation of multilingualism at the UFS through strategic projects and initiatives by collaborating with various university role players throughout all three campuses”, she explained.

A long-term vision for multilingualism at the UFS

Dr Ngubane expressed positivity when asked about her long-term vision for multilingualism at the UFS. “I would like to see the academy as a hub for the advancement and development of indigenous languages, not only at an institutional level, but at a national and global level," she stated. She also said that all students have the right to learn in the language they feel comfortable in. “If we can afford them that opportunity, it will promote good performance and, in a way, achieve social justice for those students,” she expressed. Furthermore, Dr Ngubane aims to provide equal status to all languages in our constitution, socially and academically. With that said, she also believes in promoting proficiency in English. "English remains the most widely spoken language in the world. We need to create that balance as much as possible while still promoting our indigenous languages," she stressed. Dr Ngubane envisions the academy as a leader for research on multilingualism and seeks to attract partnerships with national and international institutions. “We strive to establish a partnership with them through symposiums – and with those universities that have walked a mile in the implementation of multilingualism; we want to learn from them as well and share our own experiences. Financially, we're also pushing towards attracting funding to promote our mandate.”

What to look out for

The academy has a number of initiatives, such as the Kovsies Multilingual Mokete and the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN), which are used to promote multilingualism. “We will also be reviewing the UFS Language Policy to determine if we have any gaps in what we promised to implement.” In addition, “the university is constantly working on a multilingual glossary, where we work closely with several faculties to translate difficult terminology into indigenous languages for different subjects so students can understand complex concepts. This promotes access to knowledge and improves student excellence, especially for those from English second language backgrounds. We're also in close collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to implement trans-language tutorials across various disciplines”, she emphasised.

When asked how she would like to be viewed by the UFS community, she responded, “I would like to be viewed as a transformational leader, a team player, and a driving force of multilingualism.”

News Archive

UFS releases draft charter to accelerate transformation

2007-02-02

The University of the Free State (UFS) today released a draft Institutional Charter which is intended to enhance and accelerate the ongoing transformation of the institution towards a non-racial, non-sexist future.

Speaking at the official opening of the university today, the Rector and Vice-chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the draft Institutional Charter, was an important milestone in the transformation debate for the university and the country.

“The draft charter acknowledges that black people, women and people with disabilities have been marginalised from job and developmental opportunities, within the higher education sector and at this university,” Prof Fourie said.

The charter commits the university to meeting the challenges of a transforming higher education institution in a developing society, in particular the challenges of nation-building, reconciliation, redress, non-racialism and non-sexism – and ultimately normalisation – within a high-quality academic institution.

The principles of the draft charter firmly signal the university’s commitment to diversity – attaining and maintaining substantive and sufficient diversity (including multiculturalism and multilingualism) – in its quest for quality and excellence.
Prof Fourie said the draft charter seeks to build consensus among staff and students at the UFS about the ultimate goals of transformation at a higher education institution.

The charter proposes several basic values and principles that should guide the transformation process and at the same time serve as a basis for a future, normalised university - a promised land to transform towards.

The discussion document says academic quality is intrinsically linked to transformation and it commits the university to strengthening the core competencies of research, teaching and learning as well as community service so as to ensure a robust university for future generations.

“Indeed the thousands of matriculants, black and white, who apply to study at the UFS want to study at a good university, and a good university wants to attract the best black and white students and the best black and white staff, male and female,“ Prof Fourie said.

He said the draft charter also seeks to safeguard academic freedom and institutional autonomy as the foundation of critical inquiry and scholarship.

Regarding the critical issue of creating a new institutional culture, the draft charter commits the UFS to creating a sense of belonging for all members of the university – black and white, male and female, of whatever language, religious, cultural or economic background, as well as people with disabilities.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@mail.uovs.ac.za
02 February 2007

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