Beyond Giving Back: Alumni Perspectives on One-Way Engagement and Reciprocal Relationships with Their Alma Mater

Alumni engagement is commonly recognised as an important strategy for supporting higher education institutions. However, alumni relationships are often framed around the expectation that graduates should give back to their alma mater. This study explores alumni perceptions of such engagement and examines the need for a more reciprocal alumni and alma mater relationship. Drawing on qualitative interview data, the study investigates how alumni perceive institutional efforts to maintain connection after graduation and how these perceptions influence their willingness to contribute. The findings suggest that alumni do not reject contributing to their alma mater, but they are concerned when engagement is experienced as one-way, transactional, or activated mainly when institutional support is needed. Alumni emphasise the importance of close connection, recognition, continuous communication, and mutual benefit. The study contributes to alumni engagement literature by shifting attention from alumni giving to reciprocal alumni partnership. It proposes that higher education institutions should develop relationship-based engagement practices that position alumni not merely as donors or supporters, but as continuing stakeholders in institutional development.

alumni engagement, alma mater, reciprocity, alumni relationship, higher education, qualitative study

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