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UWC and BFSU Host Symposium on Multilingualism, Artificial Intelligence and African Language Education and Sign Student Exchange Agreement

6 days ago
2 min read

On 13 October, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hosted a symposium titled “Multilingualism, the Development of Artificial Intelligence, and the Learning and Teaching of African Languages: Exploring Opportunities and Challenges”, alongside a student exchange agreement signing ceremony between UWC and Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). Held at UWC's School of Public Health, the event brought together approximately 60 academics and students from UWC, BFSU and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).


Representatives of UWC and BFSU at the student exchange agreement signing ceremony.
Representatives of UWC and BFSU at the student exchange agreement signing ceremony.

The event opened with addresses by Professor Monwabisi Ralarala, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at UWC, and Professor Jia Wenjian, President of BFSU. The two university leaders subsequently attended the student exchange agreement signing ceremony and joined participants for a group photograph. Following the ceremony, representatives from both universities met with staff from UWC's Faculty of Education and International Relations Office to exchange views on further strengthening institutional cooperation.

Group photograph of reapresentatives and participants attending the symposium.
Group photograph of reapresentatives and participants attending the symposium.

The keynote session featured two presentations. Ms Linda Manashe from CPUT delivered a presentation titled “Terminology Is Access: Building Multilingual Knowledge Infrastructure with, not for, Artificial Intelligence”, highlighting the relationship between terminology development, multilingual knowledge systems and artificial intelligence. Dr Sebolelo Mokapela from UWC presented “Re-intellectualusation of African Languages: Epistemic Justice and the Academic Sankofa in Praxis”, exploring the significance of African languages in knowledge production and epistemic justice.


The subsequent academic session focused on African language education, machine translation and artificial intelligence. Ms Lelethu Jampethu from UWC presented “Beyond Language Prescriptivism: Ubuntu Translanguaging and the Dynamics of African Languages in Education”, examining multilingual practices in African language education. Ms Cwenga Daweti discussed the application of Google Translate, machine translation and human translation to isiXhosa novels.

Representing BFSU, Professor Li Chunguang delivered a presentation titled “People-Centred, for the Positive and for the Good: Challenges and Reflections on the Development of a Hausa Large Language Model (LLM) under the Global AI Governance Framework”. Dr Liu Yizhong and Dr Ma Xiujie from BFSU gave an online presentation on the construction and deep annotation of a balanced isiZulu corpus to enhance the robustness of African agglutinative language processing. Mr Nkosekaya Hlitane also shared insights into innovative teaching approaches and learning techniques for African languages in higher education.


The panel discussion, coordinated by Dr Mbali Dhlamini, brought together emerging scholars and educators to exchange perspectives on African language teaching and the application of new technologies. An academic poster exhibition featuring work by students from UWC and BFSU also provided opportunities for participants to share research findings and engage in further discussions.



The symposium provided a valuable platform for academic exchange between the two universities and created new opportunities for cooperation between Chinese and African higher education institutions in language research, artificial intelligence and talent development.

 
 
 

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7 Comments


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Liza Christen
a day ago

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IO Skribbl
IO Skribbl
4 days ago

Thank you for sharing such insightful discussions on multilingualism and AI's role in education! As an avid browser games enthusiast, I see potential for these platforms to also support African language learning, making education even more engaging.

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Guest
Guest
4 days ago

I love seeing the push for multilingualism! When I studied abroad, communicating in different languages opened so many doors. It reminds me of how space waves connect various realms—like bridging cultures and ideas. Excited to see where this symposium leads!

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Diego Romero
4 days ago

It’s interesting to see universities bringing together topics like multilingualism, artificial intelligence, and African language education. Technology is creating new opportunities for language learning, but it’s also important to make sure that less widely spoken languages receive attention and support.

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I also think student exchange agreements can be a valuable way to encourage cultural understanding and give students a chance to learn from different academic environments. Combining these initiatives could open up some interesting opportunities for future collaboration.


Looking forward to seeing what comes from this partnership.

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5 days ago

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Edited
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Contact:

confucius@uwc.ac.za

+27 (21) 959-4190

​

Address:

2nd Floor, B Block,

University of the Western Cape

Robert Sobukwe Road, 

Cape Town,

South Africa

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