The School of Social Sciences was traditionally  an integral part of the former Arts Faculty which was a founding faculty when the institution  was established in 1916. In the late 1990s until the end of 2000  the Social Sciences enjoyed a short spell as an independent Faulty before their eventual incorporationinto the Faculty of Management, Development and Commerce in terms of the recommendations of SP2000.

Incorporating similar components from the newly acquired East London campus, as part of the reshaping of the national higher education landscape, the new School of the Social Sciences arose out of the IOP2004 final recommendations which inter alia, proposed the establishment of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities with two schools, namely, the School of Social Sciences and the School of Humanities. The School of Social Sciences has the following as part of its aims and objectives: 

      (a) In consonance with the mission of the University of Fort Hare, it seeks to encourage and support, in both

           students and staff, an active consciousness of the material context of its existence;

      (b) To provide a centre for teaching, study and research in the Social Sciences;

      (c) To make available, professional training in the fields of Communication, Social Work, Psychology, Library and Information Science and Personnel Management (Human Resource Management)