Student Volunteering Week 2009
Student Volunteering Week was established in 2001, and is now an annual fixture in the student volunteering sector. The national celebration organised by Volunteering England raises the national profile of Further and Higher Education student volunteering. Student Volunteering Week 2009 (23 February – 1 March).
The theme for 2009 was ‘Celebrating Achievements; Overcoming Challenges’, highlighting student volunteering achievements, whilst addressing current funding challenges.
Evaluation of Volunteering England’s Student Volunteering Week 2009 work:
- Read about events that took place across the country.
With over 6000 people taking part in our online campaign throughout the country, an outcome of Student Volunteering Week 2009 has been increased awareness of student volunteering on a national level. Events - organised by student volunteers, as well as student volunteering practitioners working in colleges and universities across the country - ranged from innovative to the truly traditional, including students from Durham University organising a Wii for the elderly event, to students sharing their Pancake Day feasts with the local communities.
In response to Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funding changes to support student volunteering provision across HE, which will commence from July 2009, VE disseminated a short open-ended questionnaire consisting of three questions to a number of educational institutions regarding the impact of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund(TQEF).
The questionnaire was distributed on 26 February 2009, with a closing date of 4 March 2009 and was distributed to student volunteering and community engagement practitioners via the Workers in Student Community Volunteering (WiSCV) and Russell Group’s Community Engagement mail bases. In total, 18 institutions responded in varying degrees of detail.
Prior to and during Student Volunteering Week 2009, Volunteering England organised a poll on its main page. The question was "Should universities' funding be used to support Student Volunteering?"
Results
- Yes: 811 (80%)
- No: 158 (16%)
- Don't Know: 39 (4%)
- Total Votes: 1008
Charities and organisations up and down the country that benefited from the week’s events included the British Heart Foundation, BTCV, Emmanuel Housing, Churches, local Scout Groups, Community Farms, Wildlife Trusts, the Heritage Trust, Victim Support, as well as elderly homes and schools across the country.
Student Volunteering Week Facts
- Almost 1000 toolkits, resources and publications downloaded
- 27 institutions and organisations pledged activities/events online for Student Volunteering Week
- 44 websites covered Student Volunteering Week by advertising events/features
- 3 national and 6 local newspapers covered Student Volunteering Week- (well done to everyone that worked with their local press!)
- 11 national media/PR or information sites covered Student Volunteering Week
- 258 downloads of the Gold Awards information packs
- 31 university/college staff/students, employers and Volunteer Centres submitted case studies in the launch of the case study section of our website
- 1174 people watched the Youtube video!
Impressive and all thanks to you! Thanks again to everyone for their hard work as ever, it has been an incredible week!
