The language of course material

The content of courses (books, articles, instructions, manuals, software, databases) has a generally bilingual pattern, except in England. The smaller the teaching language, the more material in other languages. The second language is either the national language, or English. The long-term trend is to have all material in English, as at Dutch universities, in some disciplines. There, Dutch is used for lectures and seminars only (and then only if there are no foreign students). In all countries there is a general pattern that software is in English only, also indicating a long-term trend.

Issues:

Should students have a right to course material in their native language?
Should students have a right to use multilingual material?
Should students have a right to use (multilingual) material in EU languages?
Aside from the claims of students, should course content and material be multilingual, as a general policy?
Is bilingualism of material (teaching language plus English) an acceptable substitute for multilingualism?
Should compiled works (readers, collections) be multilingual?
Are monolingual (English) works, excluding EU content, acceptable in the EU?
Should software be multilingual?
Does EU policy, on a multilingual information society, also apply to academic software and academic computing centres?
Should course information (folders, syllabus, guides, websites) be multilingual?