Dean and Professor

Bilquis Dawood Chair

Welcome to the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School for Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS) at LUMS - the largest and most diverse academic school at the University. MGSHSS is a vibrant community of scholars and students committed to intellectual inquiry, rigorous research, innovative teaching, and engagement with the most important questions facing Pakistan, Asia, and the wider world.

Our undergraduate programme is grounded in a broad-based liberal arts education. During their first two years, students encounter a wide range of disciplines, including politics, economics, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, sociology, history, scientific reasoning, English, comparative literature, religion, culture, and the arts - before specialising in a major of their choice. This interdisciplinary foundation enables students to understand complex issues from multiple perspectives and to develop the analytical, creative, communication, and leadership skills needed to navigate an increasingly interconnected world.

Students can pursue majors in Anthropology and Sociology, Economics, Economics & Mathematics, Economics, Computer and Data Science, Economics & Political Science, Psychology, English, History, Creative Arts and Comparative Literature and Political Science, while a wide range of minors allows them to build interdisciplinary areas of interest. The result is an education that combines breadth of knowledge with depth of disciplinary expertise.

MGSHSS also offers a growing portfolio of graduate programmes. The MS in Economics provides rigorous training in theoretical and applied economics and introduces students to the frontier of economic research. It offers 2.5-year and 1.5-year tracks for students with different levels of prior economics training. Graduates have gone on to careers in academia, government and the private sector, as well as PhD programmes at leading universities in the United States and United Kingdom.

The newly launched MPhil in Comparative Humanities and MPhil in Society, Culture and Politics provide interdisciplinary pathways for students seeking to move beyond conventional disciplinary and area-studies boundaries. The programmes combine intellectual rigour with historical grounding, social engagement and technological awareness, while remaining firmly rooted in local realities. They engage pressing contemporary questions including climate change, gender inequality, extremism and populism.

Across our undergraduate and graduate programmes, our aim is not simply to impart knowledge, but to cultivate curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, empathy and intellectual independence. Our faculty, comprising scholars with wide-ranging expertise and international research profiles, bring together global perspectives and deep engagement with the societies and communities around us.

We want our graduates to explore widely and deeply, think critically and creatively, communicate clearly, and engage thoughtfully with the world around them. Above all, we hope they leave MGSHSS equipped not only to pursue fulfilling careers and further study, but also to contribute meaningfully to society.

I invite you to discover MGSHSS, challenge yourself intellectually, and imagine and create a better future.