Port-Vila, Vanuatu – Monday 24 November 2025: The National University of Vanuatu (NUV) will promote multilingualism and strengthen the teaching and research of Vanuatu’s vernacular languages thanks to the partnership agreement signed by the Vice-Chancellor of NUV and the President of the University of French Polynesia (UPF) and the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme du Pacifique (MSHP). Through this new collaboration, NUV will take part in the HéLiCéO project (“Héritages Linguistiques, Cultures orales et Éducation en Océanie”), an ambitious initiative dedicated to protecting and better understanding the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Pacific region, which is funded by the French National Centre of Research (CNRS), and conducted with three other French laboratories (LATTICE, LSCP, and URMIS).
Vanuatu is home to more than 130 languages, making it the most linguistically dense nation of the world. This partnership reflects the shared commitment of both institutions to preserve and enhance this rich linguistic landscape. Through the agreement, the UFP will contribute to capacity building at NUV by offering technical expertise, financial support to encourage scientific mobility, and dedicated assistance for research activities conducted in Vanuatu as part of the HéLiCéO project. UPF will also support efforts to strengthen plurilingual learning and teaching across Vanuatu.
For its part, NUV will actively contribute to the HéLiCéO project by organising workshops and academic activities, collecting linguistic and cultural data essential to the research, identifying speakers of Vanuatu’s many vernacular languages, and supporting ongoing fieldwork led by researchers working throughout the archipelago.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, NUV’s Vice-Chancellor, Mr Jean-Pierre Nirua, highlighted the profound relevance of this partnership. He said, “This agreement represents a step in our commitment to safeguarding Vanuatu’s exceptional linguistic heritage. Our languages carry ancestral knowledge, cultural identity and social cohesion. Preserving them is not only a scholarly endeavour but an essential duty that reflects NUV’s values as a national university grounded in community, heritage and multilingual excellence. We are honoured to join forces with the University of French Polynesia to advance linguistic research and revitalisation efforts across our islands.”
Mr Jean-Paul Pastorel, President of the University of French Polynesia, expressed his enthusiasm for this collaboration. He said, “We are delighted to partner with the National University of Vanuatu on this important initiative. Vanuatu’s extraordinary linguistic diversity offers a unique opportunity to deepen our understanding of Oceanic languages. Through the HéLiCéO project, we look forward to developing strong research cooperation, enabling scientific mobility and contributing to the preservation of languages that form the heart of Pacific identity.”
The HéLiCéO project seeks to uncover how the vast linguistic mosaic of the Pacific – comprising roughly 1,300 languages, many of which are endangered – emerged over centuries of migration and cultural exchange. The project also addresses the pressures of globalisation, urbanisation and the diminishing number of native speakers, working closely with Pacific universities and local communities to identify essential cultural knowledge holders and involve younger researchers in the study of their own heritage. It will also produce educational, cognitive and anthropological briefing documents to inspire renewed language education and policy-making in the region.
