Optentia’s Short Courses: Now Including Mentoring for Graduate Success

The step from university into working life is one of the most demanding transitions a graduate makes, and a skilled mentor can make a real difference. In 2026, the Optentia Research Unit and the NWU Career Office set out to develop an Online Short Course in Mentoring for Graduate Success. They recognised that alumni mentors and coaches need stronger skills to guide graduates through this transition.

They also recognised a changing world: rising graduate unemployment, increasingly diverse workplaces, and higher expectations of ethical and inclusive practice. Graduates therefore need mentoring that deepens their sense of belonging, builds resilience, and prepares them to contribute to their communities and professions. Offering the course online makes it possible to reach alumni who live far from campus or cannot attend workshops, ensuring support that is consistent, accessible, and of high quality.

What the course offers

The short course aims to equip NWU alumni with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to mentor and coach graduates effectively during the critical transition from higher education to professional life.

The online course, which is complemented by in-person training, covers the following topics:

• Understanding the alumni mentor role

• Understanding graduates as developing professionals

• Well-being of graduates

• Facilitating growth, change, and career navigation

Other short courses at Optentia

Mentoring for Graduate Success is one of eight short courses that Optentia offers:

• Being a Successful Mentor: prepares early-career and establishing academics to enter a mentoring relationship with clarity, confidence, and purpose, so that they gain the most from it.

• Being a Successful Academic Mentor: equips experienced academics with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to mentor others effectively across the full range of academic transitions.

• Building Your Path to Professional Development: helps professional and support staff at higher education institutions make the most of a mentoring opportunity before, during, and after the relationship.

• Short Learning Programme on Career Enhancement: helps unemployed people discover their strengths and build practical skills, such as networking, CV writing, and interviewing, to enter or re-enter the job market.

• Mentoring for Graduate Success: equips NWU alumni to mentor graduates through the transition from higher education to professional life.

• Mentoring for University Support Services: develops experienced professional and support staff into confident mentors who can listen actively, give constructive feedback, and facilitate change.

• Qhubekela Phambili Trainer Development: trains career counsellors, Life Orientation teachers, and other facilitators to deliver Qhubekela Phambili (“Move Forward”), a research-based career enhancement programme for young people.

• Short Learning Programme in Research Design: gives postgraduate students and researchers a comprehensive grounding in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research, statistical analysis, and scientific publishing.

Read more

You are invited to read more about these short courses. The brochure, with full details of each course and who should attend, can be downloaded here:

For more information, contact Lynn Booysen (lynn.booysen@nwu.ac.za) or Prof. Ian Rothmann (ian.rothmann@nwu.ac.za).