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A partnership to boost isiZulu and Sesotho has been penned

11 November 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela and Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane | Photo iStock

The UFS and UKZN have formalised an agreement on a Language Collaboration Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance the development of the Sesotho and IsiZulu as academic languages.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has forged an exciting new partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to promote the two provinces’ most widely spoken languages, Sesotho and IsiZulu.

This historic collaboration will see these institutions employing their skills, expertise, and resources to advance the development of the Sesotho and IsiZulu as academic languages through the development of terminology for various disciplines and research collaborations among other activities.

The UFS formalised the agreement by signing a Language Collaboration Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UKZN. The MOU process, facilitated by Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, Director of the UFS Academy for Multilingualism, and Nikile Ntsababa, UFS Registrar, was sealed by Dr Engela Van Staden, UFS Vice-Rector: Academic.

The objectives of the collaboration are to:

• allow the UFS open access to all the UKZN isiZulu materials and UKZN open access to all UFS Sesotho language terminology, corpus materials, terminology banks, and applications for various disciplines;

• develop the Sesotho terminology for various disciplines;

• assist in identifying and closing any gaps in the UFS’s development of isiZulu terminology and in the UKZN’s development of isiZulu, and further develop the relevant language terminology of various disciplines in order to fill any existing gaps;

• share expertise through hosting webinars, seminars, colloquia, and workshops on Sesotho and isiZulu terminology development;

• explore research opportunities regarding the development of Sesotho and isiZulu terminology for various disciplines; and

• share expertise and resources in all human language technology development initiatives.

“The UKZN has championed the intellectualisation of IsiZulu over the years. We do not want to reinvent the wheel,” Dr Ngubane said. “Our focus now is on the acceleration of the development of Sesotho. Our vision and mission is to be the hub for the advancement of Sesotho at regional, national, and international levels. Collaboration with UKZN is instrumental in achieving this mandate.”

The Academy for Multilingualism said it considers this collaboration historic and groundbreaking because resources will now be invested in the development of Sesotho.

News Archive

Prof André Keet elected to Council on Higher Education and as Social Cohesion Advocate for Department of Arts and Culture

2015-06-17

Earlier this year, the Minister of Higher Education and Training,Dr Blade Nzimande, appointed Prof André Keet from the UFS’s Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice to the Council on Higher Education (CHE). Given his focus on higher education studies and transformation, Prof Keet said he is looking forward to serving on this council.

Functions of CHE

“One of the main functions of the CHE,” Prof Keet said, “is to advise the Minister of Higher Education and Training on all aspects of higher education policy.” Other vital functions include the development and implementation of a quality assurance system specifically for higher education as well as to monitor and report on the state of higher education in general. The CHE also engages closely with key national issues and international trends to ensure the continual development of our higher education system.

Social cohesion advocate and additional appointments

In addition, Prof Keet has been appointed recently as a Social Cohesion Advocate linked to the work of the Department of Arts and Culture’s social cohesion programme, which advises the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa. Prof Keet also serves on the Ministerial Oversight Committee for the Transformation of Higher Education in South Africa, and Higher Education South Africa’s (HESA) transformation structures.

“These appointments serve the interests of the University of the Free State, and affirm the great work being done at the university. I’m simply part of a collective effort at the university, and salute the students and staff members who work tirelessly on the Academic and Human Projects of UFS,” Prof Keet said.

Dr Nzimande has announced recently that a second Higher Education Summit, following the one in 2010, will be convened from 15 – 17 October 2015.

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