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Student Volunteering: What the research says?
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If you're just starting at Uni, you're often invited to consider volunteering. At UEA, for example, a Volunteering Fair is on campus during Welcome Week, where you can find out about voluntary organisations and charities and the volunteer roles they have available. And, of course, there are loads of clubs you can join through the student union.
But are you wondering what it's all about? First things first: it’s all about your choice. The choice you make, the difference you make and the world you want to make. Have a look at our short Introductory Volunteering Video.
If you wanted to know more about what volunteering actually means, this is one of the best introductions called ‘A Rose by any other name’.
At the Institute for Volunteering Research, we've been studying Student Volunteering for over two decades. Here are some of our publications about Student Volunteering and the Community, and a Short History of Student Volunteering.
And what does the research say then? We reckon that more than half of all students volunteer at some time while they are at university. It doesn’t have to be organised through the university though. Most of them report that they enjoyed it. There can be numerous benefits for students from better experiences and skills for the CV to better mental health and personal growth. There can also be benefits for the people you volunteer for or with.
But volunteering is also a responsibility. Students often stop volunteering during term breaks or when exams loom, which can make it difficult for the people you volunteer for or with. Most importantly volunteering should be your choice, something that you want to do, otherwise there might be fewer benefits and potentially more problems.
IVR was set up in 1997 to undertake high quality research on volunteering. It started out as a department of Volunteering England, became part of the research department of NCVO in 2013 and moved to the University of East Anglia in 2019. During the last twenty years, IVR has played a leading role in applied volunteering research involving volunteer organisations, the public sector, private sector and the government.
IVR’s mission is to support and undertake high quality volunteering research to bring about a world in which the power and energy of volunteering and the difference volunteering and volunteering research make to individuals and communities is well understood, so that individuals can be confident and feel safe about their decision to volunteer and communities grow stronger.
Let us know what you think by emailing info.ivr@uea.ac.uk