About us

We are one of the largest departments in Africa with about 60 lecturers specialising in various fields and a number of NRF-rated researchers.

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Message from the Chair of the Department

Dr Thulile Shandu-Phetla 
Chair of Department

Welcome to the Department of English Studies!

Our department is one of the largest, teaching over one hundred thousand students each year! We are not about numbers only, but we pride ourselves on offering comprehensive and innovative student support in the various offerings under the banner of English Studies. Whether you want to take English as a major, explore Applied English Language Studies, or study English for BEd purposes, we have tailor-made and holistic offerings from undergraduate to doctoral level. We also offer various Short Learning Programmes (SLP) in the form of language, business, and academic writing workshops. Finally, our department offers SLP qualifications for TEFL and Creative Writing.

As the CoD of English Studies, I am proud to lead a department with diverse cohort of students who bring a kaleidoscope of backgrounds and experiences as they build their knowledge base, supported by the exceptional team of academics and administrators, whose various skills and fields of expertise ensure that our students are supported, while we grow our disciplines to reflect the dynamic role of language in shaping thoughts and engagement in Africa, and global arenas.

Because our aim is to ignite academic curiosity and foster growth, our graduates can go on to pursue a wide variety of different jobs and tasks, including copywriting, advertising, developing study material, teaching, proofreading, layout, editing and the arts.

 Your growth begins here!