Journal article
Philanthropy in higher education: exploring the affective dimensions of partnership work
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management , Vol.Advanced access
07-Jul-2026
Abstract
Philanthropic partnerships are playing an increasingly prominent role in the agendas of higher education institutions. As universities seek external support to fund student equity initiatives and research, attention to how these partnerships are enacted has become critical. This paper draws on affect theory to examine the experiences of academic and professional staff involved in the operationalisation of philanthropic partnerships in Australia. While participants valued the impact of philanthropy on beneficiaries, they also described the emotional, relational, and organisational strains of this work. Our findings suggest that philanthropic partnership work is governed by formal structures and the affective expectations that shape how staff perform and sustain this work. We argue that as university and philanthropy engagements increase, affect opens up institutional space to reimagine how universities conceptualise, manage, and value the relational labour underpinning philanthropic work. This paper contributes a critical perspective on how philanthropic partnerships function within university workforces.
Details
- Title
- Philanthropy in higher education: exploring the affective dimensions of partnership work
- Authors
- Catherine Thiele (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastAnna Hogan - Queensland University of TechnologySarah James - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication details
- Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management , Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.1080/1360080X.2026.2700839
- ISSN
- 1469-9508
- Copyright note
- © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Grant note
- The work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DE2101100994*].
- Organisation Unit
- School of Education and Tertiary Access
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991245897902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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