O português e a língua cabo-verdiana no sistema de educação superior na ilha de São Vicente em Cabo Verde

The present study is dedicated to the description of one of the areas in which an asymmetry in the linguistic choices available to Cape Verdeans is easily noticed, that is, the national education system. Firstly, we will trace the socio-historical context of the use of Portuguese and Cape Verdean in higher education, including some information about basic and secondary education. In the second part, we will present the results of the research carried out in 2016/2017 on the island of São Vicente, in Cape Verde, referring to the opinions of university students and the teaching staff regarding, for instance, the mandatory use of the Portuguese language in the school environment or the scarce presence of the national language in the formal higher education. For the purposes of this study, we chose 60 interviews: 37 with students from the University of Mindelo (UM), 15 with students from the University of Cape Verde (Uni-CV) and 8 with university professors, specialists in different scientific areas (Uni-CV, UM). The methodology applied for its description will be qualitative, with summarizing quantitative elements. The final observations, due to the small number of participants, cannot be considered as representative of the opinion of the entire population of São Vicente island, but they can, however, constitute a starting point for more comprehensive studies.