Mission Statement

The Department of Sociology and Industrial Sociology aspires to excellence in teaching and social research and the fostering of a critical engagement with society. The Department is committed to the provision of programmes which are at the cutting edge of social theory, research and policy formulation. It strives to combine high standards with the popular relevance of our courses and welcomes the diverse backgrounds of our students. The Department is committed to the personal and academic development of all staff members and aims to ensure that its demographic profile is representative of South African society. We further encourage and support all efforts to communicate the findings of our academic activities. The Department endeavours to provide students with a broad array of analytical and research skills in order to afford them competence across a range of occupations.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In accordance with the mission statement, the following constitute key areas of focus for the department:

1. Emphasising academic quality and excellence.

2. Developing postgraduate programmes and changing the balance between under- and postgraduate students.

3. Investigating possibilities for staff development.

4. Encouraging regional cooperation in teaching and research.

5. Exploring different learning and teaching strategies.

6. Preserving the identity and integrity of sociology as a discipline.

7. Constructing a range of courses that are sufficiently flexible to reflect the diverse interests of our student body as well as the demands of the marketplace.

8. Constructing a syllabus that is realistic in the sense that it takes cognisance of the areas of competence and research interests of the lecturing staff.

9. Linking the main streams in the department, General Sociology, Sociology of Development and Industrial Sociology, to particular career paths.

10. Identifying areas of concentration and growth.