This article demonstrates the importance of language planning to enhance learning in multilingual classrooms, indicating significant implications for universities.
Increasing linguistic diversity in higher education, particularly in South Africa with its 12 official languages, creates both challenges and opportunities for universities. This article argues that responsible language planning and management are essential for supporting students’ diverse linguistic repertoires and fostering inclusive, equitable learning environments. Using evidence from the 2023 national language resources audit, it shows that strategic, data-informed decisions, such as language prioritisation, curriculum integration and targeted support services, are vital for translating multilingual policy aspirations into institutional practice. Located in the meso-tier of the Van Dyk (2026) meta-framework, the article examines how institutional structures, governance systems and strategic interventions shape the implementation of national language imperatives. It demonstrates that institutional preparedness and leadership commitment determine whether multilingual transformation becomes lived practice rather than rhetoric. Ultimately, the article calls for responsive, integrated language planning and management systems that reflect contemporary multilingual classrooms and advance academic success, social justice and institutional transformation.
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Dyk et al. (2026) studied this question.
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