ABSTRACT

Gratitude may help Universities to sustain relationships with alumni and stimulate valuable input into current students’ learning experiences. This small-scale, qualitative study draws from the voices of alumni associated with a UK University. The study explores gratitude’s role within alumni’s reflections on Higher Education. We find that alumni’s feelings of gratitude appear to resonate most clearly towards academic teaching staff. Despite these feelings of gratitude, there are few verbal expressions of gratitude from alumni towards academics. Indeed, alumni have a variety of concerns about saying thank-you to academics including feeling awkward and may even see saying thank-you as a sign of weakness. However, hidden expressions of gratitude are evident. Alumni engage in behaviour which benefits the institution and are prepared to do more if asked, especially by key academic staff. We suggest that it is useful to think of expressions of gratitude as known and unknown. The inequity between feelings of gratitude and known expressions of gratitude may mean that Universities and academics remain less alert to the evidence and potency of gratitude within Higher Education than reality would merit. Indeed, we argue that gratitude is a central idea with the ability to inform HEIs’ alumni engagement strategies.

摘要

感恩可以帮助大学维持与校友的关系，并激发对当前学生学习经历的宝贵投入。这项小规模的定性研究来自与英国大学相关的校友的声音。该研究探讨了感恩在校友对高等教育的反思中的作用。我们发现校友的感激之情似乎最能引起学术教学人员的共鸣。尽管有这些感激之情，但校友对学者的口头表达却很少。事实上，校友们对向学者说谢谢有各种各样的担忧，包括感到尴尬，甚至可能认为说谢谢是软弱的表现。然而，隐藏的感激之情是显而易见的。校友从事有益于机构的行为，并准备好在被要求时做更多的事情，尤其是在主要学术人员的要求下。我们建议将感恩的表达视为已知和未知是有用的。感激之情和已知的感激表达之间的不平等可能意味着大学和学者对高等教育中感激的证据和效力的警觉性不如现实。事实上，我们认为感恩是一个中心思想，能够为高等教育机构的校友参与策略提供信息。感激之情和已知的感激表达之间的不平等可能意味着大学和学者对高等教育中感激的证据和效力的警觉性不如现实。事实上，我们认为感恩是一个中心思想，能够为高等教育机构的校友参与策略提供信息。感激之情和已知的感激表达之间的不平等可能意味着大学和学者对高等教育中感激的证据和效力的警觉性不如现实。事实上，我们认为感恩是一个中心思想，能够为高等教育机构的校友参与策略提供信息。