Towards multilingual higher education in South Africa: the University of Cape Town's experience

South African universities are required by the Language Policy for Higher Education adopted by the government on 6 November 2002 to implement multilingualism in their learning and teaching programmes. Multilingualism is recommended in this policy as a means to ensure equity of access and success in higher education, in contrast to past colonial and apartheid education policies that left a legacy of inequality, exclusion and failure. The implementation of this policy requires that universities develop language policies that clearly show how multilingualism will be promoted in their institutional environment and in their teaching and learning programmes. Whereas most universities have thus far developed language policies that indicate how multilingualism will be promoted in general communication and environment, the implementation of multilingualism in teaching and learning programmes seems to pose a serious challenge. The University of Cape Town has during the past few years developed its language policy and plan with the aim of implementing multilingualism in its environment and in learning and teaching programmes. The aim of this paper is to discuss the university's experience in this regard and to highlight the lessons for implementing a university language policy that may be drawn from this experience.