Engineering and technologies have become one of the predominant forces in shaping our vision of reality in the contemporary world. And the domain of humanistic learning enables a future technocrat to sustain the resilience of human spirit in all spheres of life. The department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) of NERIST fulfills this vision of projecting a human content and consciousness required for the expansion of technological and scientific knowledge by synthesizing the sciences and technologies with social sciences and humanities.

Coupled with Forestry, the Humanities and Social Sciences was initially tagged with the Applied Sciences group of NERIST. However, since 1993, it has been functioning as an independent department offering courses in English, Economics, Sociology, Psychology and Management. The department has earned a distinctive name for itself, primarily due to the wide-ranging experience of the members of its faculty and the application of innovative teaching methods, keeping in tune with the emerging developments in their respective fields of expertise. With the introduction of the Post Graduate Programme in Management in the year 2006, leading to the degree of MBA, the department of HSS has taken a giant leap in fulfilling the institutional vision of ?nurturing talent and giving wings to imagination.? The prescribed courses apart, the department is well set to provide consultancy services to various small and medium scale industries of the North Eastern region. This is coupled with a successful hosting of various short-term and need-based programmes, seminars and special lecture series for executives, teachers and the students alike. Most of the faculty members of the department have the distinction of successfully completing research projects sponsored by such agencies as ICSSR, ICAR, McArthur Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, etc. Further, the faculty members are engaged in supervising research scholars on such subjects as Economics, Psychology, Sociology, and on such broad areas of specialization as Human Resource Management, Marketing Management, Indian English Fiction and Theory, Organizational Behavior, etc. leading to PhD and M.Phil degrees respectively.

A developing technical mind must also acquire sensitivity to socio-cultural needs of human beings. With the experience of the old and the energy of the youth, the department of HSS strives to ensure that the budding technocrats and technopreneurs are armed with the quality of vision and personality which will enable them to use their skills in bridging the techno-social gap and establish a strong interface between science, technology and society.

Objectives

The department endeavours to motivate the students to become effective leaders by simulating a culture based on the values of integrity, justice and fairness. More specifically, the department aims at:

• Providing basic and advanced knowledge of efficient management and optimum utilization of minimum economic resources.
• Offering insights and formulating new methods of applying psychological knowledge to the problems afflicting the society and the individual.
• Focusing on the problems of agrarian and urban-industrial societies & preparing Knowledge base for organizational efficiency.
• Providing knowledge for holistic intellectual development of the students & other target groups.

To achieve these broad objectives and to encourage a productive relationship between the teacher and the taught, the department of HSS has recently formed MaFoN (the Management Forum of NERIST). The primary objective of MaFoN is to provide a common platform to the industrial and economic establishments, Non-governmental and Governmental organizations in identifying the problems afflicting the region and to formulate strategies to sustain the pace of socio-economic growth as well. By drawing the pool of human and intellectual resources of the region for effective and competent planning and management, MaFoN would strive to actualize its tagline ?where managers are made? in toto.