School of Social Sciences

Background 

The School of Social Sciences was created to house the department of Development and Humanitarian Studies and Social Work and Social Administration when Bugema University was granted a charter by the National Council of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Republic of Uganda, in 2009. Previously, it used to include the Department of Theology and the Department of Education both of which have since attained autonomy, with various divisions. At the time of the creation, the Department of Social Work and Social Administration was incubating the department of Counseling and Guidance. It still houses this department and still continues to exist with a few registered students but with its courses being done by the many students from other departments of the school and other schools in the university. The department of development and Humanitarian studies has since grown by specializing in some of the courses which used to form part of the curriculum that the department used to offer.  The demand for development communication led to the creation of courses leading to a degree in journalism and mass communication.  The necessity to create a public administration degree arose from the demand from our in-service program students who used to work as sub-county chiefs and were required to have at least a degree in the social science-related field but also some qualification in Public Administration. This led to the creation of such a diploma for our graduates in Development Studies but also created a degree in Public Administration since this is what they actually needed. Since the courses we offer are demand-driven, it may be necessary to create many more courses depending on the demand at the time. It is not yet clear what direction well take but it seems clear enough that eventually, these will become stand-alone programs on their own. Social Work and Social Administration Department has recently joined as a corporate member of the National Association of Social Workers of Uganda. As a school we are fulfilling the requirements of the association and this is good of our graduates. 

Philosophy 

The philosophy underlying the teaching in the school of social sciences is based on Galatians 5: 22 - 23 “But the fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such, there is no law.”