‘Opening the doors of education’: Language policy at the University of Johannesburg

Abstract

This study explores language policy and management at one of South Africa's historically Afrikaans-medium universities, the University of Johannesburg. The backdrop for the investigation is the changed landscape of higher education and the National Plan for Higher Education's provision that a multilingual environment be created in which all South African languages are developed as academic/scientific languages. The University of Johannesburg has designated four languages as primary languages for academic, administrative, communication and marketing purposes. The study reports on teaching staff's experiences and perceptions of the university's language policy, and their ideas and beliefs regarding the usefulness of the four designated languages.