This paper suggests how universities can build ongoing , committed relationships with students, able to withstand the financial and emotional challenges of studying in higher education. The research proposes that students' ongoing attachment to their university, based on positive feelings towards the university, is an important aspect of the student experience. This ongoing attachment is conceptualised here as students' affective commitment towards their institution. Using an online survey-method and a research sample comprising undergraduate students studying in the UK, the research identifies three factors which drive students' affective commitment towards their institution. These factors include students' affective commitment towards academics and students' calculative commitment towards the institution; factors which draw from the relational literature. A third factor, commitment balance, was developed within this research. Commitment balance occurs when a student's commitment to their university is perceived to be reciprocated by the university's commitment to the student. The study found that commitment balance was the most important driver of students' ongoing attachment to their institution. The paper proposes that commitment balance is a key idea to consider within relational studies generally, but has a particular relevance in the higher education context for understanding the student experience. Commitment balance reflects the pulse of reciprocity which energises relational exchanges between students and institution. The findings of this research reinforce how critically important it is for universities and academics to build relationships with students. The desired outcome is to enhance the student experience, create positive attachment between students and university and ultimately improve student retention.

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ABSTRACT:Gratitude may be an important yet largely untapped aspect of mediapractice education. This research uses an exploratory approach with media-practice academics and students in order to examine the evidence and nature of gratitude within media-practice education. Given the exploratory nature of the study, interim findings are reported.

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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 thankyou 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 therefore 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. This research presents an opportunity to understand the importance of alumni gratitude towards academics and how this can facilitate known expressions of gratitude from a growing alumni base, for the benefit of current students.