If We Can Do It, So Can You: How Doctoral Study Leads to Personal and Professional Growth for Tertiary Learning Advisors

This article examines how completing doctoral study reshaped the professional identity of tertiary learning advisors (TLAs) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on the authors’ personal reflections, it argues that doctoral research strengthened their confidence, credibility and sense of belonging within higher education. Through balancing work, study and personal commitments, the advisors developed stronger research skills, reflective practice and professional authority, enabling them to engage more confidently with subject tutors and postgraduate students. The article positions doctoral study not only as academic achievement but as a transformative process that deepens TLAs’ professional identity, agency and leadership within tertiary education.