FACULTY OF HUMANITIES – Home
Welcome to the Faculty of Humanities – the home for aspiring writers, linguists, philosophers, human and environmental scientists and artists of all sorts!
In the Faculty of Humanities we offer you the kind of programmes and courses that will lead you to a variety of career options to follow after your studies. Our world–class academic staff with insight and expertise based on cutting edge research will quench your thirst for knowledge and help you achieve the profession of your dreams. A warm and caring relationship between our staff and students in the Faculty fosters a healthy environment for students to learn, develop and grow. Likewise, the Faculty provides a supportive work environment to encourage and enable its staff to further their teaching and research interests.
The faculty, through its seven academic departments and one unit, provides high quality programmes and course offerings that not only prepare you for today’s world and its challenges, but are also designed for the holistic development of students who are articulate and critical, imaginative and productive, rooted in their own culture, yet open to other cultures, proactive, global in outlook, and who understand that true humanity lies in being of service to fellow humans.
Teaching and research in the Humanities pose questions that go to the very core of our human condition, questions of belief and moral values, questions that assess the past as a way of understanding our present and our future. Humanities help us to understand our history, the societies in which we live, the structures of the languages we speak, the ethical norms that govern our interactions. Humanities engage us in a continual process of interpretation of our culture – locally, nationally, and the world over. Scholarship in the Humanities and creativity in the fine and performing arts complement one another in the quest to understand ourselves and lie at the heart of the mission of a university.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
The following are the kind of personnel produced in Humanities the world over: Radio and TV Presenters Announcers; Broadcast and Sound Engineering Technicians; Radio Operators; Interpreters and Translators; News Analysts, Reporters, and Correspondents; Project Managers; Human Rights Activists; Photographers; Public Relations Specialists; Television, Video, and Motion Picture Camera Operators and Editors; Writers and Editors; playwright: scriptwriters: Clergy; Counselors; Actors; Producers; Directors; Designers; Dancers and Choreographers; Musicians and Singers; Archivists; Curators; Librarians; Library Technicians; Museum Technicians; Archaeologists; Historians; Philosophers, Theologians, Linguists and Comedians. If you aspire to become any of the professionals listed above, know that the Faculty of Humanities holds a future for you.
I wish to conclude by wishing you every success now and in the future and look forward to receiving you in the Faculty for the coming academic year.
BACKGROUND AND ORGANISATION OF THE FACULTY
Background
The Faculty of Humanities is one of the seven Faculties of the National University of Lesotho and it is the one with the longest history in the intellectual world. The modern concept of Humanities has its direct origins in the classical Greek paidea, but, indirectly, also, for example, in the early Indian and Chinese civilizations. The Greek paidea was a course of general education dating from the time of Socrates in the mid-5th century BC. The aim of this course was to prepare young men for active citizenship in the state.
That aim is very much the aim of the Faculty of Humanities at the National University of Lesotho. It is the Faculty’s aim to produce young men and women who possess a wide-ranging knowledge base in their single or double major and who will take an active role in running of the state – be it in the public or private sector. It is hoped that the students that the Faculty produce will be able to listen, discuss and generate ideas that their communities would benefit from. In other words, the Faculty aims to produce young women and men who are able to think logically, analytically, creatively, and without bias. In fact, Faculties of Humanities around the world are referred to, by those who know of them, as the “thinking” Faculty.
Students joining the Faculty of Humanities should realize that not only are they coming into the Faculty with the longest history but also that they are joining the Faculty which gave birth to the Faculties of Science and of Social Sciences as well as those of Education and Law. In the past Humanities has acted very much as a parent to these other areas of study: rearing them very much as parents do with their children, watching them, with pride, develop, until they were known to be strong enough to exist on their own, and then letting them go off to live their own lives.
Today students in Faculties of Humanities concern themselves with peoples and their cultures, with human values and with the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself – to paraphrase the Encyclopedia Britannica. Those are general areas with which the Faculty of Humanities is concerned, that is, in more specific terms, languages (African, English and French), Literature, History, Philosophy, Development Studies and Theology, Library Studies and Media Studies.
Faculty Organization
The Faculty is headed by the Dean who is responsible for the effective running of the Faculty, including, ultimately, each Department. He is supported by the Heads of departments, who together with the Dean form the core administrative body of the Faculty and who take turns to oversee the administration of the Faculty if the Dean is absent or indisposed.
It is unlikely that students, normally, will have much to do with the Dean in their capacities – but they will be following students’ progress with much interest. It is much more likely that students will be dealing with the Faculty Tutors. The Faculty has five Tutors. Four Tutors at the undergraduate help students with their problems relating to choice of courses, results, registration, and transferring from one Faculty to another. There is also a postgraduate tutor (Coordinator) who assists students on similar issues at the postgraduate level.
There is also the Faculty (Senior) Assistant Registrar whose principal job is to see that the Faculty administration runs smoothly and that the other Faculty Officers are aware of what comes into their area of concern and that correspondence flows freely into and out of the Faculty Office. The Faculty Registrar oversees and manages the secretarial component of the Faculty.
MISSION, VISION & VALUES
Mission
Our mission is to equip students with a well-rounded knowledge base which will enable them to think critically and independently on problems and issues that affect the human world, so helping them to live as useful and responsible citizens of their nations by cultivating their moral character and inculcating in them values and life principles oriented to making the world a better place for all its inhabitants.
Vision
A vibrant Africa-centered Faculty nurturing innovative and critical thinking skills in the fields of human endeavor.
Values
As a faculty that believes that our true humanity lies in being of service to others, the Faculty of Humanities seeks to instill in its staff and students such human values as an enduring love of learning, critical thinking, academic freedom, commitment to serve others, dedication to the pursuit of truth, moral goodness, compassion, academic and ethical integrity, inter-cultural understanding, social consciousness, professionalism, accountability and transparency in their dealings with colleagues and the wider community.
DEPARTMENTS IN THE FACULTY
The Faculty has seven Departments and one Unit as follows:
Department of African Languages and Literature
Department of Development Studies
Department of English
Department of French
Department of Historical Studies
Department of Philosophy
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Communication and Study Skills Unit
PROGRAMMES IN THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES 2023
Diploma Programmes
Diploma in Applied Philosophy and Publics Ethics
Diploma in Spiritual Care and Counselling
Undergraduate Programmes
BA Humanities
Bachelor of Arts in Spiritual Care and Counselling
Bachelor of Arts in Practical Philosophy and Applied Ethics
Bachelor of Library and Information Studies
Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies
Postgraduate Programmes
Honours in Philosophy
Master of Arts in African Languages and Linguistics
Master of Arts in Development Studies
Master of Arts in English Language and Linguistics
Master of Arts in Literature in English
Master of Arts in Historical Studies
Master of Arts in Philosophy
Master of Arts in Theology
Master of Arts in Religious Studies
PhD in English Language and Linguistics
PhD in Literature in English
PhD in Philosophy
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
The Faculty has a high research output, with members carrying out research and publishing in their various areas of expertise in both local and international refereed and accredited journals. The Faculty of Humanities is expected to re-launch its Tsebo Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences to push the faculty’s agenda of research and innovation. While innovation has become a buss-word in today’s technologically conscious world, the human characteristics such as caring, relationship-building and top-down attention to what matters most are what makes our organizations “innovative.” Technology will always serve us better as a delivery mechanism but it is the human factor that will make a difference.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The Faculty of Humanities, through its various departments is engaged in various community building activities through short courses, partnerships, Theatre for development skills empowerment, Indigenous Knowledge sensitization programmes through radio and other media outlets. The important principle of our training and sensitization methods is that of empowerment where workshops are initiated by our students and facilitators but at the end members of the community take over the work. Members in the Theatre Unit, History department and African Languages of the Faculty are also actively involved in the Morija Arts and Cultural initiatives aimed at reviving our artistic heritage that is in danger of erosion.
CONTACTS:
Telephones:
Secretary: +266 52213922
Direct line: +266 52217166
Switch Board: +266 22340601 / 52213000