The Department of Publishing Studies    started in September 2007 as a course within the Department of Library and Information Science, under the Chairmanship of Mr A.M.L. Ngwenya. The inaugural class had an enrolment of 15 students

The inaugural lecturers were Mrs Ndaizienyi Nyamakura, Mr Kay Shiri and Dr Ndabezinhle Dlodlo. The new and separate Department emerged in September 2008 and the founder Chairman became Dr N L Dlodlo. The main objective of setting up the Department was to then justify the creation of Nust Press Pvt Ltd and also to train a new cadet of professionals that would cope with freelance editing and design in a digital era. It was also recognised that the traditional methods of Publishing would soon give way to more electronic Internet assisted methods.

The Department presents a comprehensive approach to many forms of publishing, such as textbook, fiction, general book, magazine, newspaper, corporate publishing and scholarly publishing. The programme covers all the stages of publishing including planning, acquisition, editing, design, production, marketing, distribution and publication management for both print and digital media. The Department aims at teaching industry relevant publishing practices and keeping abreast of technological developments that are transforming the industry worldwide. Our graduates are competent to work in publishing and publishing-related careers. The programme challenges students to be creative and skilful in writing, editing and designing. Our graduates are employable in media houses as editors, production managers and publishing managers and also in large corporations as the corporate publishers. The Department of Publishing established the Creative Design and Technical Editing Hub (CDTE HUB) in 2013 as an opportunity to impact on the quality of book design and editing for individuals, the University and for new publishing companies that do not have this capacity