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The national language of Tanzania is Kiswahili. However, Tanzania has two official languages: English, introduced in colonial times, and Kiswahili, the actual lingua franca spoken by 99 per cent of the population. Kiswahili websites and internet content are gradually increasing, and equipment is becoming more affordable. The research reported on here shows that especially academic staff with good knowledge in information and communication technology (ICT) are using Kiswahili more than others. This gives hope for the future. The language of instruction in Tanzania’s higher education is however English only, resulting in students having to attend lectures and produce their coursework in a language they are not proficient in. Investigating whether University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) staff and students regard themselves as participants and contributors in a knowledge society, the author’s findings suggest two simultaneous processes: (1) there are still remnants from the colonial system in terms of education and language; and (2) at the same time ICT-competent staff and students already do participate in the ICT era in Kiswahili and tend to use Kiswahili in their work and studies. A high number of respondents say they use Kiswahili in most of their ICT communication. There is reason to ask: is the notion of English being the only ICT language possibly decreasing? This article builds on fieldwork conducted at UDSM in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011, in connection with the research project ‘ICT and Language in Tanzanian Higher Education’.

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Fewer than half of the young people attending vocational institutions in Norway complete their education within the allotted five years. Indeed, many of these students have non-linear paths to completion. However, it is not changes in the dropout rate that make this different from earlier generations but the expansion of formal education and the rise of the knowledge society and individualisation. The term 'tightrope biographies' is used here to encapsulate why individualisation cannot be thought of in terms of choice, because today's youth are often held accountable for their educational progression rather than this progression being viewed as dependent on institutional mechanisms. The present study characterises young people as 'tightrope dancers' in their interactions with vocational schools. Selected data collected from ethnographic interviews during the ongoing longitudinal project Youth, Completion and Dropout in Telemark are used here to capture the voices of young people. These data focus on the non-linear educational careers of these youth when they re-enter schools and explore the stories they tell about dropping out and re-entering. These stories suggest that, to succeed, students need customised support throughout the process from school to the workplace and that many depend on this support. The study identifies three different ways of understanding these students as tightrope dancers trying to get back on track, characterising them as The Steady, The Shaky and The Shivering.

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