A complex matter: charitable organisation or corporate institution? A reflection on charity and its applicability in an era of market-driven higher education in Australia

ABSTRACT

Universities represent institutions of learning, research and knowledge but are also not-for-profit charitable organisations delegated the charitable purpose of advancing education and public benefit. Charity law differentiates the obligations, values and philosophies of not-for-profit and for profit organisations. Policy and economic imperatives to reform universities in Australia should raise questions about potential compromises to charity values, social justice objectives and public benefit. The disjuncture between the values of charity and profitability draws attention to issues of public benefit in a market-oriented higher education economy and obligations delegated by charity laws. More research is needed into the investment of charity capital and obligations of public benefit delegated to Australian public universities.

KEYWORDS:

• Australian public universities
• charitable purpose
• charity and education
• charity laws
• public benefit

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Italicising not-for-profit is for emphasis to distinguish these discrete constructs.

2. Excludes Indigenous equity scholarships.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary A. Burston

Mary A. Burston is an adjunct lecturer in the School of Education, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Her experiences as a university lecturer include undergraduate and postgraduate education in humanities, social sciences and teacher education and supervision of doctorate and masters research students. Publications include book chapters in Springer, IGI Global, and Sense and articles in the Journal of Further and Higher Education; International research in geographical and environmental education; The International Journal of Management Education. Her research focuses on inequality and inequity in education systems and factors that reproduce outcomes of disadvantage in education and society.