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The first step in your experience as a new first year Wits student is the compulsory two-week Gateway to Success (GTS) programme. It integrates academic content and skills, student life, health and wellness and orientation to Wits. GTS will run in a blended format, with some activities taking place on campus and some run in an online mode.

During GTS every first-year student will be introduced to the First Year Experience Mentorship Programme. This is a year long peer-to-peer support journey designed to develop a sense of community to ensure that first-year students feel a sense of belonging and connectedness with the university community. A mentor is a senior student who has extensive institutional knowledge and experience of student and academic life within the university. First-Years will be allocated to a Mentor who will take them on a journey of discovery!

Welcome to Gateway to Success: AcademicProfessor Diane Grayson, Senior Director Academic Affairs, introduces you to the academic component of the Gateway to Success orientation programme. Welcome to Wits!
Welcome to Gateway to Success: Student LifeJerome September, Dean of Student Affairs, introduces you to the student life component of the Gateway to Success orientation programme. Welcome Witsies!
Faculty Programmes Click here to find the Gateway to Success programme for your faculty. The Gateway programme has been designed to promote your orientation into student and academic life.

The main components of GTS are:

Online academic courses:
  • Climate Change and Me – a topic of critical importance integrated with key academic skills. Students receive an official Wits short course certificate on completion.
Online academic support courses:
  • Digital abilities – includes Microsoft applications, searching the internet and digital security
  • Academic integrity – helps students learn how to adhere to high ethical standards and avoid academic misconduct
  • Helping You Learn Online (HYLO) – provides a variety of ever-growing content such as goal setting, reflection, time management and much more
On-campus activities:
  • Student wellness, holistic personal development and support, appreciation of diversity, culture, social responsibility, community-building, fun and recreation
  • Faculty-specific support and orientation

Online courses will run on ulwazi, Wits’ Learning Management System. To learn how to access ulwazi, click here.

To find out where you need to be each day during GTS and what support and resources are available, go to the FYE ulwazi site. 

For more information please visit; Development and Leadership Unit, 1st floor, Matrix (Student Union) Building, University of Witwatersrand
Tel: 011 717 9234 | Email: witsfye.dlu@wits.ac.za

Click here to find out more about the First-Year Experience, a year-long programme designed to help you orientate to university life

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