The School of Social Sciences is one of the largest schools in IGNOU. It comprises of eight disciplines, namely, Anthropology, Economics, History, Library and Information Science, Sociology, Political Science, Psychology and Public Administration. The School offers programmes at Graduate, Post Graduate and Ph.D. levels for all the 8 disciplines and also offers Post Graduate Diplomas and Post Graduate Certificate and Certificate programmes.
In view of the fact that IGNOU is today the foremost centre of open and distance learning and is adequately equipped with modern educational technologies, the School has consciously tried to assign a significant role to ICT tools in devising the learning programmes.
The following features are hallmarks of its programmes:
Courses having core, elective and skill/ability enhancing components;
Short-term and long-term courses focused on vocational and professional needs;
Courses geared to meet the requirements of groups located on the fringes of society; and
ICT based courses like MOOC courses offered through SWAYAM platform.
The School of Social Sciences (SOSS) was established in 1986. Initially, there were six disciplines in the School, Economics, History, Library and Information Science, Political Science and Sociology. The disciplines of Anthropology and Psychology were established in 2010 further enriching the learning, knowledge and research in the School. The School has been offering Ph. D, post graduate and graduate programmes and also post graduate diplomas, diplomas and certificate programmes. Though,BA (General) programme as per CBCS was launched in July 2019. And the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics, History, Sociology, Political Science, Psychology and Public Administration were offered in their revised form January 2020. Bachelor of Sciences (Honours) in Anthropology under UGC-CBCS scheme is also offered (January 2020) from the School. In July 2023 the School launched MA (Economics) and MA (History) as per NEP 2023. January 2024 onwards, the School offered BA (Major) programmes in Economics, History, Library and Information Science, Political Science, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology besides BSc (Anthropology). BA (Multidisciplinary) was also launched in January 2024. In July 2024, Post Graduate Diploma in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and Post Graduate Diploma in Rehabilitation Psychology was also launched.
School of Social Sciences provides prospective learners with a wide variety of programmes in the subject areas that are popular as well as socially relevant. The school offers various programmes pertaining to eight disciplines (Anthropology, Economics, History, Library and Information Science, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology) that are housed in the School. The programmes are offered at undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. Besides the school also offered post graduate diploma and diploma and certificate programmes. Some of the programmes offered by the School, like MA (Psychology) and Masters in Library and Information Science also have internship component that helps learners in gaining hands on experience. Further, many programmes also have components like practicum, field work, project, that help learner develop an overall understanding of the subject area.
