Welcome to the School of Social Sciences

Welcome to the School of social sciences website. Thank you very much for choosing to visit us and to offer us the opportunity to electronically communicate with you. The School is one of the largest Schools at Makerere University with a history, structurally dating back to 1963 as an autonomous academic unit. However, of course the social sciences have been taught at Makerere University since the 1940s with very strong old traditions in sociology, anthropology and Political Science. Social Work, Social Administration, Economic and Public administration followed suit, and in the early 1990 the inter-disciplinary social science of women and gender studies was added to the fold.

The School of social sciences currently comprises of three Departments. Namely: Political Science & Public Administration, Social Work & Social Administration, Sociology (that also offers Anthropology). In addition it relates to the Institute of Psychology and the Faculty of Economics & Management, as a constituent part of its Undergraduate programme. The School is closely aligned with the Institute of Statistics & Applied Economics (especially through the Department of Population Studies) and the Makerere Institute of Social Research. The School services other University units including the College of Health Sciences, Faculties of Agriculture, Technology and Arts, and the Institute of Psychology.
The School is involved in several internationally funded research projects in the areas of HIV and AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Poverty Alleviation, Environment and Land Use Management, Malaria, Food Security, Good Governance, Conflict Reconciliation, and resettlement of formerly abducted children in Northern Uganda. It has as well established a Centre of Excellence in Social Sciences Research in AIDS funded by the National Institute of Health, USA. Other Centres of Excellence are in the pipeline including the East African Ali A. Mazrui Centre for Global Studies. The School also continues to service the training program of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) at Senior Staff & Command College Kimaka and in this regard, discussions are in advanced stage to run a Masters Programme in Strategic Studies together with Cranfield University, UK. We are also in discussion with MacArthur Foundation to run a masters in Development Practice to train a cadre of development practitioners and have theory and practice.

I am pleased to say that the School plays a vital role in participating, shaping and monitoring and evaluating the national strategic development plans for example the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) and the successor National Development Plan. We have been active in interrogating and critiquing policies and policy directions in the region and beyond as well as doing research for policy formation and policy translation with a view of improving livelihood and service provision needs of the population in sectors of the economy. We believe that we are contributing significantly to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

I invite you to partner with us and to give us feedback on not only strengthening the School of social sciences but the enhancement of the social sciences in national, regional and global development as “We Build for the Future”.

Upcoming Events

No Upcoming Events