Gugu Wendy Tiroyabone is Assistant Director: Advising, Access and Success at the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). 

Shw is responsible for providing leadership and management in the research, implementation and evaluation of academic advising and RPL across the University of the Free State. Other responsibilities of Gugu’s work include the management of strategic relationships with stakeholders involved in the advising network across the institution. She is passionate about empowering and supporting students in becoming self-directed, motivated, and responsible decision-makers.

In expanding her latitude of professionalism in higher education and student access with success, Gugu has worked as an Academic Advisor, a Researcher for the South African National Resource Centre for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (SANRC), Research Assistant in the Student Development and Success unit of the UFS, and a Learning Facilitator for UFS101. She currently is leading the national academic advising collaborative grant project funded by DHET and has been involved in various projects in the CTL, the UFS and broader national higher education space. She remains primarily committed to the fields of student development, student engagement, student orientation, support and, ultimately, student success to ensure a new generation of graduates are engineered through efforts such as academic advising and RPL.