The first meeting of the UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism was held on 20th February, 2019 at 2PM at the e-Learning Centre, University of Hyderabad. The meeting was convened by and presided over by Prof. Gilvan Miller de Oliviera, the Project Leader. there are twenty two universities and institutions across the world, including University of Hyderabad, that have participated in the activities of the Chair. The Project was awarded by UNESCO in March 2018, and the duration of the Project is four years. Focusing on the Multilingual scenario of the world, the chair aims to engage in various area of Language planning and policy ranging from questions of internationalization, interculture mediation, education, rights, translation and accessibility, information and communication technology, borders, migration and diasporas etc.
This meeting was virtually attended by participating institutions from South Africa, Paris, Mexico, and physically attended by Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao, University of Hyderabad, Prof. Gilvan, UFSC, Brazil, Dr. Edleise Mendes, UFBA, Bahia; Dr. Ananda Macado, UFRR, Brazil, Dr. Julio Jatabo, University of Macau, China, Dr. Emily Emilson, NUP, Mexico. One of the prominent outcomes of this meeting was that two new institutes were invited to participate in the activities of the Chair. University of Valencia was invited by Prof. Gilvan from UFSC, Brazil and University of Western Cape was invited by Dr. Ilsc Friaver, Stellenbosch University, SA. The homepage of the Project was showcased in the Meeting for feedback from the participant institutes. Various academic possibilities for collaborations on projects, publications, co- supervision between the participant institutes were discussed in the Meeting. The main discussion stayed with the focus on the importance of multilingualism in the post-monolingual world.
The 2nd Meeting of the Chair would take place in Macau during the UNESCO Chair scheduled to be held during 18-20 September, 2019