Student volunteering in English higher education

Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries

“…It has been argued that there is variation between these five countries regarding the role of service learning within university education; for example, with service learning being more integrated in the United States and Canada than in the United Kingdom (Holdsworth & Quinn, 2010). Overall, there may be greater homogeneity across English-speaking countries.…”

“…Many Australian and New Zealand universities have student volunteering programs, and some are moving toward a compulsory service learning element. Holdsworth and Quinn (2010) point to a lack of reliable data on the rates and characteristics of student volunteering, and this contributes to the challenge of finding data that allow international comparisons. In the absence of dedicated data on student volunteering, we must look to studies of volunteer participation more generally.…”

“…A study of British student experiences cited by Holdsworth and Quinn (2010) indicated that 15% of students from four universities were involved in voluntary work: 7% in volunteering organized through their university and 11% in volunteering organized in other ways, with some students doing both. These two U.K. studies were of general student populations, and three Australian studies on student participation in volunteering within specific tertiary classes/programs found even higher levels of involvement.…”

“…For example, "to learn new skills" was the second most important reason for volunteering among the 16-to 24-year-old age group in the U.K. 1 (Low, Butt, Ellis Paine, & Davis Smith, 2007), and more than half of 15-to 19-year-olds in Canada said they had volunteered to improve their job opportunities (Hall, Lasby, Gumulka, & Tryon, 2006). Volunteering brings outcomes, or impacts, for students, communities, education institutions, and employers (Holdsworth & Quinn, 2010;NCCPE, n.d.).…”

Stavovi o volontiranju i vrednovanju volonterskog rada studenata Sveučilišta u Zadru

“…To je ona misija prema kojoj je sveučilište poznato i priznato od šire zajednice i koju ne smije zanemariti (Ćulum i Ledić, 2010a(Ćulum i Ledić, , 2011. Istraživanje britanskih sveučilišta, primjerice, pokazalo je da se u sustavu visokog obrazovanja može zabilježiti zadovoljavajući broj aktivnosti promicanja i vrednovanja volontiranja (Holdsworth i Quinn 2010), dok istraživanje provedeno na najvećem hrvatskom sveučilištu pokazuje da se volontiranje ne promiče dovoljno kroz obrazovni sustav (Zrinščak i Lakoš 2012). Što čine i što moraju činiti hrvatska sveučilišta kako bi potaknula volonterstvo i omogućila njegov kontinuitet?…”