KNUST SOCIAL SCIENCE COURSES
KNUST SOCIAL SCIENCE COURSES
The College of Humanities and legal studies is grouped into three faculties namely;
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Faculty of Law
- KNUST School of Business
- Research Centre
The College was established on the 4th January ,2005 with the university’s objective to achieve good governance and academic excellence through restructuring of academic and administrative units into Colleges.
However, the faculty of social sciences is divided into seven(7) departments namely;
- Department of Economics
- Department of English
- Department of Geography & Rural Development
- Department of History & Political Studies
- Department of Modern Languages
- Department of Sociology & Social Work
- Department of Religious Studies
This article will take you through details of KNUST various departments of the Social Sciences.
Economics Department
The Department of Economics is one of the seven Departments of the Faculty of Social Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The Department currently runs programmes in Economics at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels (BA, MPhil and PhD). The Department provides an environment for teaching, research and learning in Economics for the industrial and the socio-economic development of Ghana, Africa and beyond. The Department continues to offer Economics as an integral part of other undergraduate and graduate programmes in virtually all faculties of the University.
The Department has introduced one – year Master of Science (MSc.) programme in Economics. This programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. We hope you choose to study with us.
English Department
The Department of English began its life in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology as a section within the then Department of Liberal Studies in the 1971/72 academic year. A year later, the English section was paired with the French Section to create the Department of Languages under a Faculty of Social Sciences. In the 2005/2006 academic year, the Department of English was established.
The Department provides an environment which allows students to tailor their degrees towards their interests and carrier goals. We offer a BA English that includes courses in both Language and Literature. Our postgraduate programmes are MPhil English and PhD English, which offer options in either Language or Literature.
They also provide an innovative Proficiency in English Programme for students from Non-English Speaking countries. The Proficiency in English Programme is delivered to students in a sensational and modernised manner ranging from topics in Grammar, Phonetics (Orals), Composition (Writing), Comprehension (Reading) and Spelling.
Faculty members publish extensively in both Language and Literature aspects of English including Semantics, Pragmatics, African Literature, Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, Grammar of English, Phonetics, Comparative Literature, Feminism, Oral Literature, Linguistic Landscape, Language and New Media, etc. This equips faculty members with the necessary skills to produce graduates that enter employment fields such as media and communications, publishing, editing, public relations, teaching and many others.
Department of Geography and Regional Development
They explore the intricate relationships, exchanges and feedback among and between humans and the environment. This focus permeates the five (5) programmes we run at the Department.
- BA Geography and Rural Development
- BA Culture and Tourism
- MSc Geography and Sustainable Development
- MPhil Geography and Rural Development
- PhD Geography and Rural Development.
Teaching and learning there is a blend of theory and practice delivered in more interactive way through the use of modern tools, all designed to develop knowledge, understanding, cognitive skills and practical and professional competence. Facilitating the learning of our students is a top priority for our dedicated and highly qualified lecturers who are readily available and willing to support students. As a Department, they believe in strategic partnership, collaboration and mentorship for impactful research, teaching and service. they commit to continuous professional development and improved welfare for both staff and students. Hence, their Department is associated with the culture of excellence and honesty.
Department of History and Political Studies
The Department is housed on the first floor of the Faculty of Social Sciences building with astute faculty with varied and sometimes common research and teaching interests. With a high sense of collegiality and student centred approach, they have since 2009 produced graduates who are found in various sectors of the economy of Ghana and abroad. Their programmes; BA History and BA Political Studies at the undergraduate level are well sought for by students who apply to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) every academic year. They also boast of credible graduate programmes that are research focused and also train executives/ professionals who would want to advance in their academic pursuits and careers. Their graduate programmes include; Master of Arts in Asante History, Master of Philosophy in History, Doctor of Philosophy in History and Master of Arts in Chieftaincy and Traditional Leadership. The others include Master of Public Administration and Master of Philosophy in Political Science. Their Doctor of Philosophy in Political Studies shall start in good time.
Their department has two student associations; they are the Historical Society of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (HISOK) and Political Studies Students Association (POSSA). These student associations work together to promote the interest of students and also support the Department’s agenda of building solid contacts with our past students and also engagements with the corporate world. It is expedient to add that the Department has developed a synergistic relationship with industry. Over the years, their students have been supported to undertake internships during the second semester breaks to work with the corporate world. In this COVID year, They have been even much more resilient, all our third year students including second year students in History and Political Studies have signed on to this. There is a special coordinator who sees to monitoring the performance of their students. In the coming year, their lecturers shall also be posted from time to time to follow up and give reports on the performance of our graduate students in the corporate world during such corporate attachments.
The Department is pushing toward making research and projects the focal point of our business. It is critical to add that; we are not only interested in recruiting individuals with terminal degrees in respective fields, we are very much interested in recruiting individuals with proven track record in research, publication and impactful research output. They are not oblivious of the fact that knowledge production in the Global South continues to trail behind that of the Global North. As a department, dovetailing our activities into the University’s vision means they should engender support to make sure that the Department shall be globally recognised as the Premier Centre of excellence in Africa for teaching in Science and Technology for development, which is seen in all our programmes and contents tailored to meet the vision of KNUST; to produce high calibre graduates with knowledge and expertise to support the industrial and socio-economic development of Ghana and Africa.
They also aim at dictating the pace concerning Ghana’s interest home and abroad. Over the years, the faculty of this department have been brave to play a role in advocacy and to challenge the status quo within Ghana’s Fourth Republic. They have done so through engaging presidents, vice presidents, sector ministers in private and public interactions to discuss the national agenda as well as the governance of this country. Several of the Department’s faculty have irked their names in the golden book of time and I know history shall absorb them including our great University, KNUST, “Nyansa pow, wo san no badwen ba”.
In the coming year, we shall be more vociferous. They aim among others things to engage stakeholders in our special Thursday Nyanspo seminars, which is gaining extraordinary traction. Their agenda is to centre the national democratic discourse on “politics and development”. If they can influence the political actors to provide the public good, They can make Ghana become a better place. So they shall not only become academics in the classrooms, they shall also be mindful of our responsibility to the University community, national and international spheres. They believe that we must represent what intellectual freedom represents in higher institutions of learning. More so, we shall become public intellectuals for our light must shine to the world, for a city that is set on a hill can never be hidden.
Department of Modern Languages
The Department of Modern Languages of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is therefore up to the daunting task of developing a rich language base of the country in both their local dialect and in the international languages to promote productive relations and self-image of the students.
The Department has two sections running two undergraduate programmes leading to Bachelor of Arts (French) and Bachelor of Arts (Akan) and graduate studies in French. The Department is actively engaged in the areas of teaching and research at both undergraduate and graduate levels. In consonance with the University’s corporate strategic objective which is to maintain high academic standards in learning and research, the department, during the academic year under review has been exploiting the possibility of establishing an inter-university Ph.D programme in order to contribute to a better use of resources in higher institutions through the mobility of lecturers and researchers from partner institutions.
During the year under review, the shortfall in staff strength, as well as aging staff, continued to be experienced, hindering the expansion of programmes in the department. In addition, lack of adequate Ph.D. holders in the department has been the department’s main concern, making teaching and supervision at the graduate level quite challenging. The department has therefore embarked on a vigorous recruitment drive from both corporate institutions and other universities.
Again the department has put in place other strategies for quick and effective completion of Ph.D. programmes.
However, both academic and administrative staff fulfilled quite adequately their main obligations with respect to administrative work, teaching and research and publications as well as service to the university community.
The department envisages a new approach to its programmes in the coming year to make the department a center of excellence in language teaching and learning as well as the dissemination of knowledge of language and culture.
Plans are underway to introduce another modern language and a translation bureau in the Department
Department of Sociology and Social Work
Department of Sociology and Social Work primarily aims at excellence in teaching, research, and community service. Their department advance cutting edge research and teach in most Sociological and Social Work specialties. Both Sociology and Social Work help students understand patterns of social life, including the impact of social institutions and culture upon people’s life. Therefore, the two programmes of the department explain the root causes and persistent social problems. Besides, students learn how to think critically and how to work with data. Sociology and Social Work is relevant for students seeking to help navigate our contemporary world and gain the skills and knowledge necessary to become leaders in a complex society. Thus, they combine intellectual rigour with a commitment to public service through our research, teaching, and service on campus and beyond.
Department of Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies (Department of Religion and Human Development). They are enthused to have you visit our website. The vision for the department is to advance knowledge in religions and produce graduates to foster inter-religious dialogue for peaceful co-existence in society, towards socio-economic and human development at large.
their mission is to provide quality education and training that promote academic excellence to improve quality of life. The Department inculcates moral and ethical values and principles in students to unravel the mysteries of beginning and end of life issues, to meet the challenges of philosophical and the metaphysical dimensions of human society.
The Department runs Programmes in:
- B.A Religious Studies
- M.A Religious Studies
- MPhil Religious Studies
- PhD Religious Studies
Their graduates and post graduates students fit perfectly to all leadership positions in the arts, religious sciences and every professional field due to the way they are prepared through internships, research opportunities and disciplinary integration. Their teaching is a blend of modern tools all designed to develop knowledge, understanding and professional competence.
Rev. Fr. Prof. John K. Opoku (Ph.D)
Associate Professor in Religion, Health and Bioethics
