Wits Humanities Courses
Degrees offered in the Faculty of Humanities
Undergraduate Programmes
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
The BA is a high-quality, three year, programme in the social sciences and humanities. With a broad range of exciting courses, tailored to different intellectual and career interests, the degree grounds students in the study of humankind s history, societies and arts. It is a prerequisite for further study in these areas.
Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television (BA Film and Television)
This new degree allows students to focus on filmmaking skills from the first year of study. The qualification equips you for a career in a vast number of areas within the film, and television industry, as a director, writer, academic, cinematographer and many more.
Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Arts (BA Dramatic Art)
This degree equips you for a career in a vast number of areas within the theatre, film, and television industry, as an actor, director, writer, academic, arts administrator, choreographer, designer, and many more.
Bachelor of Arts in Performing and Visual Arts (BA Performing and Visual Art)
This is a new four-year degree in The Wits School of Arts. It is a great option for students who want to work across established disciplines offered in The Wits School of Arts. The new professional BA is also suited for students who want to focus more strongly on academic studies than on practical courses.
Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts (BA Fine Arts)
This degree equips students for a career as an artist and in any field requiring practical and intellectual expertise in visual culture e.g. digital multimedia, museums, gallery administration, curating, general arts administration, creative work in the theatre, electronic media, art education in primary, secondary and tertiary as well as special needs settings, art publishing, professional fine and commercial art, photography, computer graphics, art criticism and writing.
Bachelor of Music (BMus)
In this degree students gain a grounding in a portfolio of skills required to support an increasingly diverse profession: performance studies in voice or instrument, in classical, jazz, popular music and music theatre; music theory, aural skills, transcription and music technology; music history and criticism.
Bachelor of Social Work (BSocial Work)
BA Social Work degree is a professional social work degree that prepares students for practice in a variety of settings under government, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Social work graduates work with individuals, groups and communities to enhance their social functioning and promote social development. Social work graduates also influence the development of social policies that can promote human well-being.
Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Hearing Therapy (BA Speech and Hearing Therapy)
The degree in Speech and Hearing Therapy is a professional degree where professional speech and hearing therapists are trained to assess and treat children and adults with communication and swallowing disorders. The communication disorders include disorders of speech (e.g. stuttering, voice problems), language disorders (e.g. delayed child language, or adult language problems due to brain injury) and hearing disorders.
Bachelor of Education (BEd)
At Wits there are a number of options open for students who wish to study education in order to take up careers in the teaching profession or other educational fields. The Bachelor of Education (BEd) is a 4 – year full – time initial qualification, offering specialisation in all phases of school learning, from early childhood development to senior secondary school.
Graduate Studies in Humanities
List of programmes
The Faculty offers a wide range of programmes, some of which are vocationally oriented and lead to careers in specific professions, while others are theory and research oriented and impart critical analytical skills that open up to a range of careers in academia and research institutes, the public and private sectors and nongovernmental organisations alike.
Our programmes seek to be at the cutting edge of postgraduate studies by taking innovative multi-disciplinary, cross-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches, linking the arts, social sciences, natural science, law and management. Students go through rigorous theoretical and methodological training which imparts strong research and analytical skills and enables them to adapt to the constantly changing world of work in the 21st Century.
| Doctor of Literature – DLitt | 2 years full-time or 4 years part-time |
| Doctor of Philosophy – PhD | Minimum of 2 years full-time or maximim of 4 years part-time |
| Doctor of Music – DMus | 2 years full-time or 4 years part-time |
| Doctor of Philosophy Education – PhD | 2 years full-time or 4 years part-time |
| Master of Arts – MA | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Master of Arts in Translation by coursework and research report | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Audiology – MA (Audiology) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Fine Arts – MA (Fine Arts) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Heritage – MA (Heritage) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Clinical Psychology – MA (Clinical Psych) | 1 years full-time |
| Organisation Psychology – MA (Organisational Psych) | |
| Community-based Counselling – MA (Comm. Based Couns.) | 2 years full-time |
| Rock Art Studies – MA (Rock Art Studies) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Social Work – MA Social Work) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Speech Pathology – MA (Speech Path) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Master of Music (MMus) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Master of Education (MEd) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Master of Education in Educational Psychology MEd (Educ Psych) | 1 year full-time |
| Bachelor of Arts with Honours – BA (Hons) African Languages and Linguistics, African Literature, Applied Drama: Theatre in Education, Communities and Social Context, Applied Language and Literacy Education, Archaeology, Arts, Culture and Heritage Management, Anthropology, Creative Writing, Demography and Population Studies, Development Studies, Digital Arts, Drama and Film, Drama Therapy, English, English Education, European Literature, French Language and Literature, Geography, German Language and Literature, Heritage Studies, History, History of Art, International Relations, Italian Language and Literature, Journalism and Media Studies, Labour Policy and Globalisation, Media Studies, Migration Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Studies, Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Publishing Studies, Sociology, Industrial Sociology, Development Sociology, Translation, Interpreting |
1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Bachelor of Arts with Honours – BA(Hons) joint honours programmes in Anthropology and Sociology, Arts and Culture Management and History of Art, English and History of Art, English and International Relations, English and Linguistics, English and Media Studies, English and Philosophy, French and International Relations, French and Linguistics, French and Translation, Heritage and Arts and Culture Management, History and Political Studies, International Relations and Media Studies, International Relations and Sociology, Philosophy and Political Studies, Political Studies and Sociology | |
| Bachelor of Arts with Honours in South African Sign Language | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Bachelor of Education with Honours – BEd(Hons) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Bachelor of Education with Honours in Educational Psychology (Not offered in 2024) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Postgraduate Diploma in Arts | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Postgraduate Diploma in Arts in Rock Art Studies | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PDE) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
| Postgraduate Diploma in Translation and Interpreting | 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time |
Fields of study
Contact Details
Postgraduate Office
Tel: 27 (0) 11 717 4007/8
Postal: Humanities, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050
e-mail: Madile.Moloi@wits.ac.za
Veli.Mongwe@wits.ac.za
Humanities Graduate Centre (for workshops and seminars)
Tel: 27 (0) 11 717-4032
e-mail: gradcentre.humanities@wits.ac.za
Faculty of Humanities – Education
Tel: 27 11 7173018: Maropeng.Maake@wits.ac.za
Tel: 27 11 7173332: Lebo.Mokone@wits.ac.za