DIRECTOR: LANGUAGE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

University of KwaZulu-Natal; Durban; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of KwaZulu-Natal seeks a dynamic Professor or Associate Professor to lead the Language Planning and Development Office, shaping institutional language policy and development. The role includes promoting multilingualism, supporting African languages, and guiding language research and translation efforts.

The successful candidate will oversee strategy development, collaborate across faculties, and drive language transformation to support academic excellence, accessibility and social

Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in Languages/Linguistics or related field.
• Evidence of specialisation in IsiZulu and English.
• Experience in bilingual/multilingual education, especially in higher education.
• Knowledge of language policy and planning and translation related to isiZulu.
• Publications track record in language-related research, preferably including isiZulu.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for the Language Planning and Development Office.
• Lead development and implementation of language policy and multilingualism initiatives.
• Promote collaborations in language development and academic language use.

Skills

Leadership

Interpersonal skills

English proficiency

IsiZulu proficiency

Language policy experience

Education

Doctoral degree in Languages/Linguistics or related area

Job description

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)is committed to meeting the objectives of Employment Equity to improve representivity within the Institution. Preference will be given to applicants from designated groups in accordance with our Employment Equity Plan.

TEACHING AND LEARNING DIVISION

DIRECTOR: LANGUAGE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

FIVE (5) YEAR FIXED TERM APPOINTMENT

(PEROMNES GRADE 5)

TEACHING AND LEARNING DIVISION

OPERATING UNIVERSITY-WIDE

The Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning) seeks to appoint a dynamic and energetic Professor or Associate Professor to provide strategic leadership and guidance at an institutional level on all matters related to language policy, planning and development in the University. The successful candidate must have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies and diverse communities, both inside and outside the University. The Director will be expected to strategically lead and manage the University’s Language Planning and Development Office in implementing and advancing UKZN's language policy, promoting multilingualism, developing African Languages as an academic language, providing language support services including translation and editing, conducting language research including computational linguistics, and ensuring that language transformation contributes to academic excellence, accessibility, and social justice across the institution. To lead the development of strategy in relation to language policy and development. The role includes promoting academic collaborations related to language development.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Associate Professor
• Doctoral Degree in Languages/Linguistics or related area
• Evidence of specialisation in IsiZulu and English
• Evidence of experience in Bilingual/Multilingual education, especially in higher education
• Evidence of recent and relevant knowledge of Language Policy and Planning and/or Language terminology development and translation preferably related to isiZulu
• Track record of publications commensurate with the level of appointment in language related research, preferably including isiZulu

ADVANTAGES:

• NRF rating or research recognition in linguistics or language studies
• Additional South African languages (highly advantageous)
• Knowledge of computational linguistics and language technologies
• Experience with corpus building and linguistic databases
• Membership in professional language associations
• Experience with language advocacy and policy development

Appointment to this post will be on the January 2018 Conditions of Service. The total remuneration package offered includes benefits.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 17 November 2026

Short-listed candidates may be expected to do a presentation on a specific topic.

Kindly note that the University of KwaZulu-Natal (“the University”) is required to process any Personal Information (as defined by the Protection of Personal Act, 2013 “POPIA”) submitted by candidates when applying for positions at the University. The provision of the Personal Information is a requirement in terms of the University’s recruitment and selection process. The retention of any personal information is as a consequence of the University being bound by legislative requirements and / or good governance practices as well as record keeping for statistical purposes. The University will endeavour to ensure that the appropriate security measures are in place and implemented for both electronic and paper-based formats that are used for processing of the personal information recorded through this recruitment and selection process.