The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) houses the disciplines of Economics, English Literature, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, CISTS (Sanskrit) and History with a strength of fifty-two faculty members at the present. We hope to expand by incorporating other disciplines concerning Humanities and the Social Sciences in the near future. The Department commands an independent space within the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay by offering a Bachelor of Science in Economics, an M.Phil. in Planning and Development, MA-PhD Philosophy, MA by Research and a Ph.D. Programme in all of disciplines currently constituting it.  The Ph.D. Programme of the Department has been running since 1973 and the M.Phil. program was initiated in 1993. At present, about 200 research scholars are working towards their Ph.D. degree and about 240 students have already been awarded their Ph. D. Degrees. In addition to that, more than 350 students have been awarded M.Phil. Degree since 1995 and about 36 students are currently pursuing their M.Phil. Degree.

The Department, apart from the production and dissemination of its disciplinary concerns, also plays a unique and distinctive role within the vision of the Institute, which seeks to promote a holistic science and technology education. The inclusion of the study of the Humanities and other social and behavioural sciences ensures that our quest within the frontiers of the science and technology takes place in an informed manner and attends to humanitarian and social concerns. Towards his end, the Department offers a number of core and elective courses for the B. Tech., M. Tech., and the MBA Programmes of the Institute.

Apart from the facilities made available to all students at the Institute-level, at the department-level, the students have access to the resources available in the Department’s Library, Computer Labs and the newly established Econometrics Lab. The Department also has Psychology Laboratories. For the fulfilment of its teaching and research goals, the Department has competent faculty members in diverse areas, who keep pace with the current developments in their fields of specialization.