vinspired Students

The NCCPE has been funded by v - the young persons volunteering charity to deliver a student volunteering project. We are keen to involve many people in this work.

Student volunteering is a tried and tested way in which universities can develop and support their public engagement activities.

Student volunteering isn't new. In fact, it goes back to the 19th century, when universities used to set up missions in deprived inner city areas where their students not only went to help out, but also  to live and work in the communities.

Today, thanks to the work of Students' Unions, Student Community Action groups and the establishment of vibrant and professionally run volunteering services in many universities, the possibilities for student volunteers are endless.

So what are these possibilities? How many students are actively engaged in volunteering? What is the impact of all this work?

With a wide range of institutional arrangements and objectives, not to mention different funding resources, it is hard to 'align' activity, as it exists in pockets within institutions. This makes it difficult to find the answers to these questions, and it makes student volunteering vulnerable to shifts in funding.

Project Aims

The NCCPE vinspired students project has been set up to provide evidence of the impact of volunteering on students, communities and institutions. By the end of the project in March 2011, we aim to:

Inspire a shift in culture

We will encourage universities to recognise the value of student volunteering as part of their core strategy by:

  • producing a well articulated and resourced manifesto that will help Vice-Chancellors to determine how they can embed student volunteering as part of their strategy
  • initiating a movement in how HEIs view student volunteering to help many more students to engage in volunteering over the coming years

Increase capacity

We will pool the expertise of the student volunteering community, and work together strategically to galvanise a step change in the quality, quantity and diversity of student volunteering by:

  • developing a knowledge base of existing resources to support student volunteering, and developed new resources to fill any gaps in provision
  • developing a web resource that will provide intelligent searching to help people find the tools they need to develop student volunteering projects

Deliver high quality engagement activity

We will enrich universities, their communities and the lives of the students involved by:

  • engaging over 4,000 students in helping to develop the strategy, running projects that support the development of effective models, and making a significant contribution to the communities they live in
  • initiating a number of national campaigns with external organisations, working across the HE sector, and developing effective models for this type of engagement activity

More information