Student volunteering in Higher Education dates back to at least the 19th century when universities set up missions in deprived inner city areas and students went to live and work in them. The building that Student Volunteering England was based in for 25 years was used by 19th century Oxford University students to stay in when they volunteered in East London.
During the 60’s and 70’s a new approach was taken and there was the rise of Student Community Action groups, where students led and managed their own projects. These were based in their local communities and involved students in every level of the decision making processes.
The Student Community Action Development Unit (SCADU) was formed in London in 1981. The SCA National Committee (SCANC) helped set up and manage SCADU working with them to produce events and information packs dealing with a wide range of issues - from racism to working with people with learning difficulties. In 1983 SCADU became a Registered Charity, number 1065360.
In 1995 SCADU was re-named the ‘National Centre for Student Volunteering in the Community’. Work focused on working with local groups to build a national network. 1996 saw the launch of the Student Community Action Magazine [SCAM].
In 2000, the name ‘Student Volunteering UK’ was adopted. 2001 saw the first 'Student Community Action Week.' National Student Volunteering Week is still held every February and is the biggest week of celebration in the student volunteering calendar.
Universities had begun to realise the importance of the work these groups were doing and started to put money behind them, providing a paid worker or sabbatical in the university or students union. In 2002 £27million was invested in volunteering in Higher Education by HEFCE and the Home Office through the ‘Active Community Fund’ (HE-ACF). This was to encourage greater involvement in voluntary and community activities, putting more paid workers in place and making volunteering accessible to more students. £13.5 million was given by HEFCE and the Home Office and was distributed as £6.5 million for the first two years and £14 million in the final year.
This investment created a network of volunteer coordinators (WISCV) around the country and an increase in student volunteering projects around the country. Due to changes brought about by devolution, in 2003 the national support organisation for student volunteering adopted the name ‘Student Volunteering England’. In 2004 round 2 of HEACF put a further £10million into student volunteering around the country however due to them taking their time in announcing the money that would be allocated a lot of workers left the sector. There were now 42,000 student volunteers in HE with an increasing number of organisations involving students every day.
In the summer of 2006 the third round of funding from HEFCE was announced, Student Volunteering England was instrumental in campaigning for this and securing the funding. There were certain changes to the money; rather than being a pot of money created to get students active in their local in their community the money has been put in the ‘Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund’ which focuses on teaching and learning in a university. This meant the money was not ring fenced for volunteering projects and some volunteer coordinators had to work hard to either fundraise or make sure that their Vice Chancellors recognised the value of volunteering and gave some of that money to their projects. In this round a further £15 million was allocated, calculated per institution, pro rata to student and academic staff numbers.
However, as it is apparent from this history Further Education has not featured to any extent in the same way as Higher Education. The creation of Millennium Volunteers in 1998 saw a number of colleges having a worker placed in them to support students. This has been really successful in showing that volunteering can work in Further Education.
Student Volunteering England has also been involved in some development work in FE. In 2001 a year long study was done into getting FE students involved in volunteering, this year’s work proved successful with a number of colleges developing volunteering opportunities particularly those with MV workers.
In October 2005 Student Volunteering England were awarded a grant from the Big Lottery Fund to work with 6 pilot colleges around the country supporting the development of volunteering projects, the learning from this was then rolled out nationally to be available to all Colleges.
On July 1st 2007, Student Volunteering England merged with Volunteering England to offer a more secure future for the sector and to offer a collectively stronger lobbying voice, outreach services, and more inclusive identity. After 25 years the staff team left the offices in Bethnal Green to join Volunteering England staff in Kings Cross.
In 2008 the student volunteering team at Volunteering England along with the Learning and Skills Council conducted research into the impact of student volunteering in Further Education. Further Education became a priority area for Volunteering England, working to the aim of offering Further Education students the same opportunity that HE students have to make a difference in their local community. They continue to offer support to groups in Higher Education working in formal partnership with Workers in Student Community Volunteering.
