Our postgraduate programmes are designed to build the intellectual and technical capacity of graduates so they can critically engage in and find creative solutions for the challenges of transformation at all levels of social and public life in South Africa. The conceptual and practical training is designed to prepare students for leadership in research, policy and decision-making and equip them for a wide range of professional and academic career paths in and beyond South Africa.

Humanities postgraduate programmes draw on the established expertise of faculty members, four SARChI Research Chairs and two Mellon Research Chairs as well as a range of nationally and internationally recognised research institutes who are at the cutting edge of research and policy development. Offering an array of innovative and inter-disciplinary programmes, postgraduate students have access to specialised libraries and the latest communication and information technology.

Students register for a course of study in a particular department in the Faculty and complete the required core courses and electives. At least one of those electives a year can come from courses provided by other departments. This enables students to pursue their academic interests within a more flexible plan of study and provides access to a wide range of courses and teaching staff than any one department can offer. Graduates proceed through the following academic stages:

• Honours degree which is usually one year in duration; then on to a
• Master's degree either by coursework and research, or by research only; and then to a
• PhD.

The Faculty is particularly proud of its record of attracting top candidates to its Masters and PhD programmes and of supervising them to graduation in a reasonable time. Policies and guidelines for postgraduate programmes in Humanities are set by the Graduate Programmes Committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Dean of Postgraduate Studies.