The Department of Ancient Civilizations unites teaching and research of its subjects under a single organizational umbrella. It is divided into the subject: Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Egyptology, Greek Philology, Historical-Comparative Linguistics, Latin Philology, European Archaeology as well as the Vindonissa Professorship for the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces.

The Department of Social Sciences comprises the subject areas of Anthropology, Gender Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Sustainability Research, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Sociology and Urban Studies.

The Department of Languages and Literatures is the largest department in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. It combines the teaching staff, researchers and students as well as the technical and administrative staff of the following subject areas into one planning, budget and administrative unit: German Language and Literature, Anglophone Language and Litrerature, French Language and Literature, Ibero-Romance Language and Literature, Italian Language and Literature, Nordic Studies and Slavic Studies.