CLCS was initially the Department of Languages created by the University Council in July 1974. The Department was created as a way of providing an official academic venue for teaching and promoting both European and African Languages and Linguistics. The department was elevated to the level of an Institute in November 1995 (Institute of Languages). Since then, the Institute has been operating as a semi-autonomous unit within the Faculty of Arts. However, in 2012, Makerere University’s Administrative structure was transformed into a collegiate system. The CLCS is now in the School of Languages, Literature and Communication, under the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS).