Algeria replaces French with English as second language
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Algeria has made the decision to replace French with English in its universities. The change will take effect in September when the new academic year will begin in the North African country.
The ministry’s decision was revealed in a directive at the start of April 2025. It instructed every public university in Algeria to start transitioning its first-year medical and scientific courses to being entirely in English from September 2025.
This comes as part of wider moves to bring English as the main language of instruction across its educational institutions. This is seen as enhancing the internationalisation of the higher education sector. That’s according to a study titled EMI In Algeria: Theorizing as a vehicle for the internationalization Of local knowledge in the social and human sciences.
In the region, Algeria is the third-highest adopter of French with 33% of its population speaking it, behind Morocco at 35% and Tunisia at 52%, a 2018 report from the French Language Observatory revealed.
One other reason suggested for the change is political tension between the former French colony and Paris. In 2024, France’s support for Morocco’s claims over Western Sahara hasn’t helped relations between the two either. This led to the “withdrawal with immediate effect” of its ambassador to France.
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