Message of the Dean

The School of Social Sciences: Unity in Diversity

Warm welcome to our website! The School of Social Sciences of the Loyola Schools is a diverse group of disciplines and area studies with varying perspectives but united in the formation of students to have meaningful engagement with society and to become leaders in nation building.

It is the largest School in the Ateneo de Manila University in terms of student population, faculty members and the number of departments, programs and research centers. The School is home to the Communication, Economics, Education, History, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology-Anthropology Departments and the interdisciplinary programs of Chinese Studies, Development Studies, European Studies, Japanese Studies, Korean Studies and Southeast Asian Studies.

At the undergraduate level, we offer 15 major and 13 minor programs of study, and 2 fields of specialization within a discipline. At the graduate level, the School provides 33 programs of study leading to a Master’s degree and 5 programs leading to a PhD degree. Delivering these undergraduate and graduate programs are 96 full-time and 158 part-time faculty members.  Seven out of ten faculty members are PhD degree holders who graduated from top universities and are prominent leaders in their respective disciplines.

We are known for our teaching excellence with a focus on student-centered learning and relevant applications of classroom learning in the real world. Our students are formed to be equipped with relevant theories, frameworks and methodologies of the disciplines to facilitate critical analysis and sound research. They are trained to comprehend and analyze critical social issues and formulate feasible recommendations. The School is also known through its research and capacity building outputs produced by nine research and training centers. These are harnessed further in refining the major and inter-disciplinary courses which our faculty teach to our students.  In the end, the School hopes to contribute significantly to the development of the country through the leadership of our graduates in various fields.

In an era of globalization, we also have opportunities for our students to study and explore the world with our mobility programs like the Junior Term Abroad and Summer Term Abroad. During the intersession term we encourage our students to immerse themselves in areas outside Manila to be able to study the local milieu and culture life. We also play host to various student organizations that hone the leadership skills of our majors and provide venues where they engage and serve local communities. Our alumni are outstanding leaders like former President Benigno Aquino III, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Central Bank Governor Amando Tetangco and many others in the private and public sectors.

I hope to welcome you soon in our very dynamic and lively intellectual community. It is our pleasure to be able to hone the future servant leaders and builders of our country.  Please visit us in our physical home, the Leong Hall and the Social Sciences Building.