Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at International University of Sarajevo (IUS) is one of three faculties, offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in arts and sciences: Cultural Studies (CULT), English Language and Literature, Psychology (PSY), Social and Political Science (SPS) and Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design (VACD). In addition to these degree programs, the programs in this faculty offer a wide variety of liberal arts courses as electives to students throughout the university.
The Faculty has around 327 students at the moment, yet the number gradually increases, since the university has managed to attract more students in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey and other overseas countries. Moreover, IUS has been accepted to be part of Turkish Higher Education Student Placement Exam (YÖK ÖSS) Catalogue, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences now also accepts students from Turkey's Placement Exam.
The Faculty is comprised of a motivated and dynamic academic staff engaged in research at the forefronts of basic sciences and technologies. There are currently 30 academics teaching courses. The teaching staff, composed of professors from different parts of the world, is renowned nationally and internationally for its contributions to the various fields of study and for its devotion to teaching. A low student-faculty ratio means that teaching staff members of all ranks are able to allocate a considerable amount of time and effort to students as individuals and to the development of their academic careers at International University of Sarajevo, making every effort to link these with work opportunities after graduation.
Programs in the FASS strive to provide students with a balance of professional education in their field of choice, along with a wide selection of courses in various other fields so as to broaden their perspectives and prepare them for their lives as intelligent, critically thinking citizens of the world. The focus in the classroom in all programs in the Faculty is on achieving a balance between the necessary substantive knowledge required for a particular field and the critical intellectual and/or artistic sensibilities necessary for survival in a constantly changing and ever-demanding world. In line with this philosophy, the programs in the Faculty specifically aim at
- providing the best possible learning environment to stimulate both learners and teachers;
- designing course structures that are flexible, accessible and attractive;
- training students to work independently, both in group context and individually so as to foster self-confidence, autonomy and the ability to innovate and display initiative;
- encouraging students to go beyond their specialist discipline through a continuous emphasis on interdisciplinary study;
- providing for students the opportunity to explore the approaches and methodologies adopted by other disciplines through the inter-disciplinary structure at the university level, and to inculcate in them an openness and flexibility to alternative views.
Teaching methods include lectures, tutorials and seminars. Suitable equipments and well qualified technical support are available to support the teaching activities.
The programs in the Faculty provide a wide range of minor and double major programs as well. The aim of the minor undergraduate programs is to enable academically successful students for furthering their education in other subjects they are interested in. Double major undergraduate programs are designed for outstanding students to have a second undergraduate diploma from another department within the Faculty or from other departments of other faculties of the university.
The aim of graduate programs is to give graduates the opportunity to achieve a qualification which enables them to make an immediate contribution in their future chosen careers. The programs place considerable emphasis upon graduate student research and encourage M.A. and Ph.D. students to publish their research findings in national and international journals. The Faculty and its programs also aim at conducting several interdisciplinary masters and doctoral programs in various areas in the future. At the moment English language and literature programs offer MA and PhD studies, and the program of Social and Political Sciences and Psychology are preparing their graduate programs. The aim is to start graduate studies in these programs during the 2009-2010 academic year.
The Faculty has just started "Academic Lecture Series" and thus organizes symposia, seminars and workshops to create an environment in which current scientific discussions can be made and to encourage and stimulate national and international collaborative work.
 Besides, the FASS has also launched an online journal called epiphany, which is a semiannual refereed journal. In addition, the FASS encourages and financially supports not only the publication of original papers in the national and international journals but also the participation in the International and national conferences.
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