Amid rift with France, Algeria drops French at universities

Amid rift with France, Algeria drops French at universities

Amid an ongoing diplomatic crisis with France, Algeria is pressing ahead to teach medicine in the English language at universities, as a part of a process of moving away from the long-entrenched use of the French language. On 2 April, Algeria's Ministry of Higher Education issued a directive instructing all public universities to begin transitioning first-year medical and scientific courses entirely to English, starting from the next academic ye…

From the start of the academic year 2025-2026, English will become the main language of instruction in several fields in Algeria, marking a key step in the government's policy to reduce the use of French for the benefit of the language of Shakespeare. This decision, taken by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, concerns in particular the medical sciences and is part of a broader plan of linguistic transition.