FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
408
The Department’s flagship product for decades has been methodological compe- tence. Irrespective of the programme, there remains a high market-expectation that products of this Department can do social research. Nonetheless, this product was criticized in 2017 as lopsided. In specific terms, this meant that a student might be better at one type of method over another, depending on the discipline. Based on the recommendations, it was decided to standardize the base of the methods offer- ing across the Department to afford students a strong methodological foundation, irrespective of programme. This means that all students who are enrolled in the Department will do both qualitative and quantitative research at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels by 2025. This will mean adjustments to the structure of some programmes; and this process begun in a structured way in the school year. The Department is compartmentalized under four units: Psychology with 65 per cent of total enrolment, Sociology (18%), Social Work (15%) and HRD with the remainder doing postgraduate courses. During the academic year of 2022–2023 much was achieved by each unit. Some of these are displayed in the table below. The Department’s management team will use these as a marker of improvement for the upcoming academic year. The data in the table show that the staff achieved only 27 article equivalents (23 articles and a book) in the school year. This means that the 34 academics produced less than an article each for the year. The reality is that several of these members are completing PhDs, and three of the complement during the year held critical posts within the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Department. There are also other chal- lenges as a number of the senior staff have social positions of national importance, and these roles – while encouraged on the grounds of nation-building – distract from the core of academic output. Additionally, the academic staff have had to deal with the displacements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, there is recognition that the output is unacceptable; and staff have been encouraged to access the Faculty’s Writers Retreat. Dr. Doreen Gordon’ has also partnered with academics of the University of London to provide a vehicle for junior staff to engage with others in the rudiments of writing. The goal is to increase publication output substantially in the upcoming year.
SUMMARY OF CRITICAL DEPARTMENT ACHIEVEMENTS 2022/23 ACADEMIC YEAR Publications
Numbers
Peer Review Articles
23
Book
1 1 2 2
Abstract
Technical Reports
Publications in non-print/multimedia
Papers Presented
33
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