The Faculty of Social Sciences began its initial operation in Room 520, Bangunan Pentadbiran, Sekolah Latihan Telekom, at Semariang, Kuching, Sarawak on August 5th, 1993. The faculty moved to the temporary campus in Kota Samarahan on October 2nd, 1993.
It was one of the first two faculties in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, which offered undergraduate academic programmes when the university began its first intake in the 1993/94 academic session. The academic programmes include International Studies, Industrial Relations and Labour Studies, Social Work Studies, Communication Studies, Development Planning and Management, and Politics and Government. Each academic programme employs an applied multidisciplinary-based curriculum in social sciences specifically designed to equip graduates not only with theoretical knowledge but also grounded with social, communication and practical skills to enable them to secure gainful employment in today's competitive job market.
With its skeletal 3 teaching staff members, the faculty took its first batch of 78 students on August 9th 1993. The same number of students were enrolled during the second intake of the 1994/95 session. During Unimas formative years, factors of existing physical constraints and the lack of teaching staff could have contributed to the decline of total students intake in the faculty (63 and 56 for the 1995/96 and 1996/97 academic sessions respectively followed by a slight increase to 70 in the subsequent 1997/98 academic session). A possible reason for the above reduction was the competition for students generated by the newly established Universiti Malaysia Sabah, which was also compounded by the inadequate facilities of the existing UNIMAS temporary campus at Kota Samarahan during these early years. However, in the following 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 academic sessions, with considerable improvement in the university infrastructure and its attendant campus teaching and learning environment, the faculty was able to increase its students intake by 191 and 194 respectively. For the current academic year(2001/2002), the outlook is promising with the faculty having a total intake of 294 students, a 52% increase when compared to the previous academic year.
During the first four years of its operation (i.e. from 1993-1997), the Faculty of Social Sciences was heavily relying on part-time teaching staff from Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, and contract staff from overseas. However, from 1998 onwards, the faculty was fully staffed with Malaysians including one with a permanent residential status. Overall, for the whole faculty, the current total student population is 735 with a staff of 35 lecturers, 5 tutors and 9 supporting staff. Of the current 35 lecturers in the faculty, 7 are PhD holders, while 28 have Master Degrees in various disciplines; 5 tutors are on study leave to pursue higher degrees overseas. Today, the faculty has two Professors and three Associate Professors. Although the Faculty of Social Sciences is still at its infant stage, it has successfully conferred a Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences to 512 undergraduates since Universiti Malaysia Sarawak held its first Convocation in July 1997. During the fifth Convocation in 2000, the faculty was witness to the conferring of its first Masters student.
The Faculty of Social Sciences strives to be an academic institution of renown in the region and a center for Borneo Studies in Malaysia.
In line with the university's goal, the current academic programmes offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences are multidisciplinary-based. The primary objective of the faculty is to train undergraduates in the various fields of social sciences, incorporating both theory and practice and to produce skilled workforce who are also adequately equipped with social skills and knowledge in information and communication technology (ICT) application as demanded by job markets both in the public and private sectors in Malaysia.