Basic Postgraduate Information

Administration - Laura Bloem: 011 7174424
Honours/MA - Professor Leah Gilbert: leah.gilbert@wits.ac.za
PhD enquiries: Professor Ran Greenstein: ran.greenstein@wits.ac.za

Faculty of Humanities
Faculty Officer, Postgraduate SWE 4B 717-4002
Faculty Assistant, Postgraduate SWE 4C 717-4007

Sociology offers a number of options for postgraduate studies:

The two-year Honours/Masters package: it is possible to complete both your Honours and Masters degrees within two years by taking our Honours degree, and gaining admission into the one-year Masters by coursework & research. This is the best option for most students: two years, two quality degrees.

For more details of these degrees see below:

Honours degree by coursework:
The degree takes one year fulltime to complete (or two years part-time). Students can specialise in three fields of study:

• General Sociology
• Industrial & Economic Sociology  
• Development Sociology.

Students are required to do five courses (or four courses plus a research paper by special permission). Courses should be selected from 4000 level only. Please note that there are compulsory courses for each field of study (see below or inquire by email).

Masters degree by coursework & research:
This degree takes one year fulltime (or two years part-time) to complete. Students can specialise in four fields of study:

• General Sociology
• Industrial & Economic Sociology
• Development Sociology
• Health Sociology.

Please note that from 2009, we offer an MA in Health Sociology: The only such degree in the country. For more information, click here.

In order to do the MA by coursework & research report, applicants are expected to have an Honours degree in Sociology or a cognate discipline.

Students are required to take three courses on the 7000 level. Please note that there are compulsory courses for each field of study (see below or inquire by email).

The research report is based on independent research and is supervised by one of our staff members who are experts in the area.

For a list of postgraduate courses currently offered, including course descriptions, look  here (pdf).

Masters degree by dissertation:
In order to do this degree applicants are expected to have an Honours degree in Sociology or in a cognate discipline.

The degree consists of the submission of a 50,000 word research dissertation. Students are supervised by a member of staff who is an expert in the area.

The degree typically takes 2 years fulltime to complete.

PhD studies
PhD studies are the most advanced postgraduate qualification. Applicants are expected to have already completed a Masters degree, ideally in Sociology or a cognate discipline.

In general, a full-time PhD does not take less than 3 years to complete, and consists of the submission of a thesis of between 80,000 and 100,000 words. For more on the PhD, click here. 

Admission criteria:

For students from Wits: admission into Honours requires an average in your Sociology major (or cognate discipline) of not less than 68%. We may, on a case by case basis, consider students with a marks between 65% and 67%, and hold interviews when necessary.

For admission into a Masters by coursework & research report, we require marks of 70% upwards, although we may consider students with marks of 68% plus.

For MA by dissertation and PhD, no candidates with marks below 70% will be considered.

For students from other universities:
We pay attention to the

• institution of study
• the fields of study  
• work experience, where applicable.

We apply the same high standards of admission criteria, especially in terms of marks. As a rule, we will not admit candidates without an adequate background in Sociology or a cognate discipline, nor will we admit students whose marks are not equivalent to those required of Wits graduates.

We reserve the right to insist upon students attending additional or specified courses as a condition of admission, including for PhD students.  

Compulsory courses:
The course on 'Advanced Social Research' is compulsory for all Honours students.

The course on 'Advanced Research Methods' is compulsory for all Masters by coursework students.

Other compulsory courses are specific to each field of study and may change:

* For Development Sociology, 'Development as Ideology and Practice' is compulsory.
* For Industrial/ Economic Sociology, 'Economic Sociology: Institutions, Capitalism and Markets' is compulsory.
*For Health Sociology, which is only offered at the Masters level, 'The Sociology of Health and Illness', 'HIV/AIDS in Context', and a health-related research topic for the research report are all stipulated.

This year's postgraduate class timetable, is online here.

University almanac for 2012 is online here.

The Humanities handbook can be downloaded in two parts in PDF format: part 1 and part 2.

Please contact the department if in need of further information at 011 717 4424.