Sikhuluma no Professor Nobuhle Hlongwa oyi Dean nenhloko ye
School of Arts UKZN. Sibheka iqhaza alibambile kwezemfundo
nasekuthuthukiseni ulimi lwesiZulu.

Professor Nobuhle Hlongwa
Dean and head of the School of Arts at UKZN
Discipline: African Languages, Linguistics and Development

Njengoba sibheke kwi 25 th International Conference of the African Languages
Association of Southern Africa, ngabe kulamashumi amathathu kubusa
intando yeningi lingakanani igxathu eselithathiwe ukuqinisekisa ukuthi izilimu
zase Africa zibamba iqhaza njengoba izinto zishintsha emhlabeni.  

Background

Experience
She has 24 years’ experience in academia. She joined the then University of
Durban Westville in 1998 as a Lecturer. She is the former Dean of Teaching and
Learning in the College of Humanities (2012-2017). She provided strategic
leadership on issues of teaching and learning in the College of Humanities.
She is the former Deputy Dean of the Undergraduate Studies in the faculty of
Humanities, Development and Social Sciences. She is the former Head of the
School of isiZulu Studies (2005-2007). She is a representative of the University of
KwaZulu-Natal in the Community of Practice for the teaching and learning of African Languages (CoPAL) which forms part of the devolved governance structure of Universities of South Africa (USAF). She has supervised several MA and PhD students to completion. She has examined 13 MA and 15 PhD thesis from UNISA, Rhodes, Wits, UCT, UWC, Stellenbosch, UNIZULU and UKZN.
Accomplishments She is a C2 rated social scientist by the National Research Foundation (NRF). She has a Google Scholar H-Index of 10.
Hlongwa is an established researcher with many publications, and some of her

publications are written in isiZulu thus contributing towards the promotion and
intellectualization of isiZulu as a language of scholarship in Higher Education.
Her book entitled “Ukuhlelwa Kolimi” translated as Language Planning, published in 2009 is still the only book written in isiZulu in the area of Sociolinguistics. She has co-guest edited several special issues of Alternation Journal. Hlongwa is a
representative of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the Community of Practice for
the teaching and learning of African Languages (CoPAL) which forms part of the
devolved governance structure of Universities of South Africa (USAF). As of
January 2023, she will assume the role as the Chairperson of CoPAL. She has
served as a member of the Ministerial Advisory Panel on the development of
African Languages in Higher Education.

She is the treasurer of the African Language Association of Southern Africa
(ALASA). She is the principal investigator in several national and international
research projects funded by Andrew Mellon Foundation, National Institutes for the
Humanities and Social Sciences, and BAQONDE, European Union- funded
Erasmus + projects. She is also a leader of the content team in a project funded by
the National Department of Sports Arts and Culture.
She was appointed by Pan South African Languages Board as a Commissioner for
Linguistic Human Rights Tribunal. She is the reviewer of the following international
journals: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, International journal
of Nordic Names (Norna), Journal of the International Council of Onomastic
Sciences (Onoma), Journal of the African Language Teachers Association (JALTA),
USA. Social Inclusion (Open Access Journal).
She is also the reviewer of the following South African journals: African Journal of
rhetoric, South African journal of African languages, Alternation journal, Nomina
Africana journal, Indilinga journal, Language Matters, International Journal of
African Renaissance.

Research Interests
African Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Language Planning and Policy
Language and Gender
Onomastics
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Teaching Interests
IsiZulu 1st and 2nd language teaching

Onomastics
Comparative Nguni Linguistics
Historical and Comparative African Linguistics
Sociolinguistics and Language Planning.