The Dutch-medium Brussels Free University, the VUB and Erasmus Brussels University (EhB) have signed a charter on "multilingualism and linguistic diversity". "We are convinced that the future of Brussels is multilingual," says Wim Vandenbussche, Professor of Dutch Linguistics and in charge of multilingualism at the VUB.
The charter confirms the two institutes' commitment to pursue an inclusive language policy, promoting high-level knowledge of both academic Dutch and other languages in the Brussels context.
In the daily lives of Brussels students multilingualism is the norm. At the VUB, a quarter of students are international students and 1 in 2 grows up in a multilingual home environment. At the EhB, about 30 per cent of students speak another language besides Dutch, while another 30 per cent or so never speak Dutch at home.
This diversity in language background, combined with factors like a migrant background or a socio-economically disadvantaged start in life, brings additional challenges. "In some quarters, multilingualism is seen as a problem, but we see it as an asset," Wim Vandenbussche believes. "On the labour market, for example, multilingual professionals, who can smoothly navigate between different languages and cultures, are sought after."
Research into Multilingualism
"The VUB purposely invests in a language policy that promotes high-level academic knowledge of both Dutch and other languages," Vandenbussche explains. "This ranges from personal guidance for students writing academic texts in Dutch to organising foreign-language courses tailored to specific disciplines, like legal French in the Law programme."
The VUB also conducts active research on the topic. For more than 20 years, the university has been monitoring the language evolution in Brussels and in the Flemish borderlands known as the “Rand” and publishes a language barometer survey on the subject that encompasses 4 years.
"We are convinced that the future of Brussels is multilingual. Moreover, if you give Dutch the good care it deserves, a lot is possible. Language is part of our students' identity, and we want to help them embrace their multilingual home situation and valorise it on the jobs market," Vandenbussche concludes.