Head of Department
Head of Department's Welcoming Remarks
Welcome to the Department of Social work and Sociology. We are a leading group of lecturers, researchers, consultants and practitioners in the areas of social policy, social protection, human rights, disability, child protection and welfare, social planning and administration, case management, project management, criminology, refugees, migration and development, disaster management, participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation, programme evaluation, social research, social entrepreneurship and social innovation management, leadership and management, among others. The Department undertakes applied social, behavioural and academic research, policy advisory, graduate education and professional development management.
About the Department
The Department of Social Work and Sociology is one of the oldest departments in the University and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is as old as the University of Zambia itself. It was established as the Department of Social Development Studies, offering three fields of study namely Demography, Social Work and Sociology. It was renamed ‘Department of Social and Sociology’ when Demography was transformed into a department.
The Department of Social Work and Sociology falls under the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zambia. The core aims of the department are basically twofold: To provide quality training and commissioned basic and applied social science based research services in social work, sociology and related development issues.
The department is a forerunner amongst university departments and one of a few in Zambia and worldwide, that designs, develops and delivers courses that are tailor-made to the training, education and development needs of professionals in the social development sector.
The Department has extensive experience in training and conducting social and economic research in Zambia and in the sub-Saharan region in which its academic members of staff are involved individually and as a Unit with various research and development organizations. The Department undertakes research with and for other institutions in order to contribute to resolving human problems, help refine the approaches used by development practitioners, and update the knowledge and skills that are transmitted to both the University’s full time students and special target practitioners. More so, the Department has high caliber, internationally recognized and qualified personnel who train and conduct multidisciplinary, social science research, teaching and coaching. We are the oldest leading applied social science based research and teaching department of the University. Because of it being an applied and problem-solving oriented, the Department is uniquely positioned and in tune with the needs of the Zambian and regional environments.
Our flagship programmes at the undergraduate level are the Bachelor of Social Work and the Bachelor of Sociology. The Bachelor of Social Work is a four year Degree programme which aims to produce a cadre of high caliber professionals with an all-round perspective of development problems and tools for analysis who are going to practice as direct service providers, social service planners and managers, policy analysts and researchers. The Bachelor of Arts in Sociology programme aims to equip its graduates with an awareness of their society and its problems as well as ways in which to resolve such problems and hence enabling them to be innovative leader as managers, service providers, planners, policy analysts or researchers in a rapidly changing world.
The department also offers training at graduate level in Social Work and Sociology. The Masters programmes in Social Work and Sociology are designed to prepare postgraduate students in the broad skills typically utilised in contemporary society. The goal is to provide students with advanced training beyond the undergraduate level for success in a number of professions as applied social scientists. The programmes combines an emphasis on competence in applied advanced theory and research methods with opportunities for the development of each student's own interests.
