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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

Harmony contributes to Right to Learn campaign

2016-04-28

Harmony, a residence on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State, recently made a contribution to the Right to Learn campaign. From left is: Tiisetso Magampe, Residence Assistant Finance at Harmony, Pulane Malefane, Harmony Residence Head, Sikhulekile (SK) Luwaca, Student Representative Council (SRC) Associations, and Johan Diedericks, Harmony SRC Guardian. Photo: Palesa Matsolo.

Harmony, a residence of the University of the Free State (UFS), recently used a breakfast for academic achievement to also make a contribution to the Right to Learn Campaign. The first-year residence on the Bloemfontein Campus of the UFS donated R6 300 to the campaign, which was started in response to the dire need for financial relief for academically deserving students from underprivileged backgrounds.

On 9 April 2016, the event was concluded with a Right to Learn poem and the handover of a cheque to the Student Representative Council (SRC) towards the campaign. The SRC launched the Right to Learn campaign on 30 October 2015 as a supplementary initiative to the #FeesMustFall movement. The proceeds will be channelled towards reducing the number of students who will face de-registration in 2016, to the SRC textbook bursary, and to food bursaries.

According to Pulane Malefane, Head of Harmony Residence, the breakfast was held to celebrate the academic achievements of the residence. Harmony prides itself on academic excellence, and instils this value into its first years at the beginning of the year.

The best academic achievers were recognised, according to their performance during matric. This was done in order to encourage the students to keep on excelling at university.

Harmony also acknowledged its student leaders motivating the first–year students.

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