South African institutions of higher education (HE) have increasingly come under pressure to broaden access to historically under-represented groups who are often underprepared for tertiary education as a result of apartheid-era secondary schooling (White Paper, 2013). This has resulted in student enrolments becoming increasingly diverse with respect to racial, cultural, socio-economic and linguistic backgrounds (Underhill & McDonald, 2010). In an attempt to address these issues and promote increased throughput rates, institutions of HE have increasingly begun to introduce tutoring, including supplemental instruction (SI) and peer-assisted learning (PAL) and mentoring programmes.