The School of Humanities Social Sciences has been established from the date of inception of the University i.e. on 01 July, 1989. The School began with one Programme – Bachelor of Arts – and about 3000 students. This number has gone up to more than 3.5 lakhs today.

Open and Distance Learning is a dynamic system that democratizes and decentralizes higher education. This is a second chance for all those who want to make a comeback in mainstream education and fulfil their aspirations to get higher education. The ODL system offers flexibility in terms of relaxed entry rules, extended duration for course completion, minimum programme fee, student centered functions etc.

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences offers programs in liberal education – in languages, literature and social science subjects, and thus contributes to the larger vision and mission of the University. The School attempts to bring in courses that would address educational needs of learners, strives to develop educational resources for the learning community, and become a catalyst in creating aware and informed citizens, skilled and trained manpower, and thus prepare the learners intellectually to meet global challenges of the 21st century.

The human centric content of various courses of the School emphasizes on the universal human values, rights and duties, ​​and human development. In the last thirty years it has tried to develop skill based courses and fulfil educational aspirations of the society. It believes in giving such knowledge that would be useful to individuals and the society, thus connecting its curricula with the practical aspect of life.

The School develops and offers diploma, advance diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programs. The Academic Programs on offer include: PhD in Economics, Master’s Degree Programme in Marathi, Hindi, English, Urdu, Economics, Public Administration, Library and Information Science; Bachelor’s Degree Programs in Marathi, Hind, English, Urdu, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology; in Marathi and Urdu medium; Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Mass Communication and Journalism; and Diploma Programme in Mass Communication and Journalism. The School plans to initiate postgraduate programs in a few more Social Sciences subjects.

Subject experts from various disciplines have contributed in the development of Quality Self Instructional Materials (SIM), as well as in the production of audio-video programs on various topics from different subjects. We are happy that the video programs on the university's YouTube Channel and the study materials developed for all the programs have been well received by all the stakeholders. In the last few years there has been a growing trend that many young graduates from the university have been clearing MPSC / UPSC and many other competitive examinations.

The university also encourages its students with creative faculties, sports talent and research aptitude to participate in the Inter-University Sports Festival, Sports Meet, and Research Festivals respectively. The Government of India (GoI) Scholarship is also provided to some of the programs offered by the school. We urge the students to take advantage of these special facilities and complete their higher education, and be future ready! 

I wish all the learners a very happy learning experience indeed!