Advancing the use of African languages in education
First-language learning capacity building in South African higher education institutions
BAQONDE is a collaborative project between European and South African Higher Education Institutions to facilitate and promote the use of indigenous African languages as a medium of instruction in tertiary education.
Four South African universities (North-West University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of the Western Cape and Rhodes University) and three European universities (Trinity College Dublin, University of Groningen and University of Salamanca) led by the latter have put together a realiastic plan to create, develop and sustain an effective strategy to ensure the implementation of the recently approved Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa which prioritizes the development of African languages as medium of education. With this in mind, BAQONDE is a catalyst for actions that will build capacity among lecturers and students in South African tertiary education. Core initiatives of the project partners include the establishment of an inter-institutional network of African Language Development Units (ALDUs) and the progressive creation of multidisciplinary materials in African (Bantu) languages. These initiatives will be extended to other HEIs, and outreach activities at primary and secondary levels should ultimately create sector-wide synergies around African languages – capacity-building for their teaching, their intellectualisation and their embrace and use.
Our Partners
This consortium comprises the following seven universities with remarkable experience and expertise in managing bilingualism or multilingualism in academic contexts.







leading universities
South African indigenous languages
African Language Development Units (ALDUs)
High-level Project aims
Latest News
Here you will find an overview of selected current news about BAQONDE.

Launch of POLOKELO
The BAQONDE Team is thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of our inter-institutional repository POLOKELO on 10th May 2023. This space will serve as a platform for sharing teaching and learning...

Staff development and Multilingualism
The team responsible for providing sessions to trainees on multilingual pedagogies at the various workshops hosted by the four partner universities were invited by the UKZN University Language Planning and Development Office / ALDU to deliver…

BAQONDE makes its appearance at CoPAL
On November 11th, 2021, the Coordinator of the BAQONDE Project, Pedro Alvarez-Mosquera, participated in CoPAL’s (Community of Practice for the Teaching & Learning of African Languages) most recent meeting, organized by USAf (Universities South Africa), the representative body of the 26 public universities in the country.
In The Press
Keep up to date with our presence in the media
Africa Day: A glimpse into the interdisciplinary research aimed at promoting indigenous languages
La USAL lanza ‘POLOKELO’, primer repositorio interinstitucional de materiales y recursos para la educación superior en lenguas indígenas sudafricanas
La USAL lanza ‘POLOKELO’, primer repositorio interinstitucional de materiales…
BAQONDE aims to open the world of higher education
Are universities complying with the revised Language Policy Framework, or are they really committed to multilingualism?
BAQONDE Summer School – Putting Indigenous Languages First
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Please, feel free to contact us in case you have any questions, proposals of collaboration or if you need more information.
Click below for list of contacts of project members