Each year, hundreds of University of Leicester students give up their timeto do voluntary work in the local community. ‘Contact’ is the University’sstudent volunteering project which has over 600 members who volunteerwith a wide range of voluntary and community groups. Contact has beenin existence for around 30 years, starting out as a Student CommunityAction Group, and is now one of the largest student-led Associations atthe University. Working in partnership with a range of organisations,student volunteers bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm and make a positivedifference to the local community.

In 2002 the University of Leicester received funds from the HigherEducation Active Community Fund (HEACF), part of the Government’swider Active Community initiative. Since the introduction of HEACF,volunteering activity has increased significantly across the University,with record numbers of students joining Contact and staff membersparticipating in a wide range of volunteering activities.

“Less Ivory Tower - more real world”University of Leicester HEACF Volunteering ProjectResearch Report

Executive Summary

www.le.ac.uk/ssds/volunteering/

As a result ofvolunteering:

• 78% of students said thattheir confidence in theirabilities has increased.

• 73% of students agreed thattheir employability hasincreased.

• 73% of students said that theirsense of being part of the localcommunity has increased.

“Less Ivory Tower - more real world”

The HEACF enhanced the key role played by HEIs in their localcommunity and was designed to encourage greater involvement ofstudents (and staff) in voluntary and community activities.*

The funds enabled the University of Leicester to employ staff tosupport the work of Contact and also to develop new volunteeringinitiatives for staff. Although there are indicators that theVolunteering Project is successful and continues to develop andimprove, the University of Leicester wanted to undertake a formalevaluation process to measure the impact of the project.

The HEACF Volunteering Project Research Report provides informationwhich will inform and shape the Volunteering Project’s developmentand potential funding, with the aim of improving the quality andrange of services that can be provided. This Executive Summarypresents the key findings of the research.

* There were two rounds of HEACF funding between 2002 and 2006.

Support for student and staff volunteering opportunities in HEIs is

continuing under the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund.

Methodology

To assess the economic, cultural,physical, and human value ofthe volunteering project,questions were adapted from a‘tool kit’ developed byVolunteering England. Using anonline survey websitequestionnaires were delivered tostudents, university staff andtutors, the organisations whouse volunteers, people whobenefit from the servicesprovided by volunteers, andgraduate employers. Focusgroups were held with studentvolunteers and withorganisations that usevolunteers. The research wasconducted between March –September 2007.

Key Findings

1. Students

More than 80% of students who had done some voluntary work through

Contact indicated that, as a result of volunteering, their personal

development had increased. For more specific questions asking about

confidence, self-esteem, motivation, etc. 50% or more answered that all

these factors had increased. Students’ skills also developed through

volunteering, particularly the ability to ‘communicate with people’, ‘to

lead or encourage others’, and skills directly related to work. Seventy

three percent of students agreed that their ‘employability’ had increased,

and there was strong agreement that the following had also increased:

the chances of gaining employment in their chosen field, willingness to

look out for people, getting involved with local activities, and the sense

of being part of the community.

Other benefits of volunteering were the enjoyment of working with the

community, using skills, having fun, meeting new people, doing

something good, and adding to the CV. Comments included:

‘It gave you an opportunity to give something back to the community as

well as get to learn more about the place you are living in. With my

project, you could see the benefits of your volunteering within a few

months and that was really satisfying.’

‘…you’re outside the bubble of the University, you’re actually part

of Leicester.’

‘We can show them that we’re not just all lager louts and we can give

something back to the community as well.’

For those students who had never signed up with Contact, 45% had

heard of Contact, and 30% had considered volunteering through Contact

but were mainly either too busy with academic work or just didn’t get

round to it. Of those who hadn’t considered volunteering, the main

reasons were either not having enough time or not being aware of the

possibility of volunteering. When asked ‘what one thing might have

encouraged you to volunteer’, the most popular response was ‘better

promotion of volunteering’.

With extra resources the project has the capacity to grow through

increased promotion of volunteering across the institution. There is already

significant publicity about volunteering with Contact across the campus,

but further resources would enable the project to reach more students

which, in turn, would lead to increased numbers of students volunteering.

As a result ofvolunteering:

• 92% of students said that theirability to communicate withother people has increased.

• 78% of students said that theirability to lead or encourageothers has increased.

You're outside the bubbleof the University, you'reactually part of Leicester.

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Executive Summary

2. Graduate Employers

There is a general consensus as to the sorts of qualities employers lookfor in graduates. These skills include communication and organisationalskills, initiative, self-awareness, team working, problem solving abilitiesetc. We took it for granted that employers wanted these skills fromgraduates and asked whether they felt that voluntary work deliveredthem. More than 88% of respondents answered either ‘Strongly agree’ or‘Agree’ to the statements, ‘Voluntary work helps graduates develop thekey skills we look for’ and ‘Voluntary work makes graduates more awareof their skills and personal qualities’. Voluntary work was also seen as avaluable addition to a graduate’s CV (see fig. 1).

Comments indicated that companies who have considered the merits ofvoluntary work have found that it has helped graduates to develop avariety of skills, gain an understanding of the work place, anddemonstrate strength of character. Comments included:

‘Less ‘ivory tower’, more ‘real world’.’

‘With the vast amounts of applications voluntary work makes candidatesstand out and shows they have more to their personality than academicsor sport or work.’

It would seem that, in an increasingly competitive graduate jobs market,students can give themselves a head start by gaining valuable workexperience through volunteering. It is encouraging to see that graduateemployers recognise the value of volunteering and are aware of theimpact it can have on students’ personal development.

3. University Tutors

While most tutors were aware of voluntary work being done at theUniversity, less than half had heard of Contact, and very few were awareof any publicity about volunteering. There was a general feeling thatvoluntary work is seen as a valuable addition to a student’s CV, but theidea of embedding voluntary work in the curriculum was looked onunfavourably by almost all respondents. It would appear that tutorswould prefer to see voluntary work remaining as just that - somethingthat students choose to do voluntarily!

4. Staff

Staff members who do voluntary work through the University showedoverall satisfaction with the training and support they have received.There were some aspects of personal development and economic, socialand cultural capital which had increased as a result of volunteering for

On a five point scale of Ato E (with A = a greatdeal and E = not at all)how much would you sayvoluntary work is seen asa valuable addition to astudent’s CV?

A D EB C

Fig. 1

“Less Ivory Tower - more real world”

some staff, but this was to a lesser extent and for fewer people than for

the student volunteers. There were mixed feelings as to whether the

University should give greater help, or time off in lieu, for volunteering.

Staff who are on the volunteering project database but who haven’t

volunteered, overwhelmingly cite lack of time due to their commitments

to University work as the reason. Other demands on staff time included

social lives and voluntary work not organised through the University.

When asked if there was anything which might have encouraged them to

volunteer, respondents indicated they might have volunteered if they

were offered a project more suited to their interests, or were allowed

time off in lieu of volunteering. We can conclude from these comments

that more staff would consider participating in voluntary work if they

had more time to do so. The University currently supports the ‘right to

read’ scheme where staff are allowed an extra half hour on their lunch

break to volunteer, but this could be extended further to enable staff to

participate in a range of voluntary opportunities, suited to their interests.

5. Community Organisations

Students at the University of Leicester volunteer with a wide range of

organisations covering many different areas of work. In general, the

responses to the questions in this survey have been very positive and

show that the projects and Contact have been doing a good job in

supporting students and liaising with each other. Over 90% of

organisations indicated they were either ‘Very satisfied’ or ‘Satisfied’ with

the quality and the quantity of the work done by student volunteers.

There was strong agreement that students enhance the reputation of both

the organisations they volunteer for and the University of Leicester. It is clear

that the projects value the students highly and that students bring a lot of

value to the projects. Comments included:

‘We have had a large amount of quality mentors from (the) University of

Leicester this academic year to date. They have worked well with students,

been reliable and really helped out young people in their learning.’

6. Service Users

Students volunteer with such a wide variety of projects it was difficult to

create a questionnaire which would assess impact with all user groups,

so we concentrated on SCAMP, a special needs playgroup run by Contact

volunteers. The feedback was very positive. Some projects do evaluate

the impact of their work and they, rather than Contact, are in a better

position to do this.

How do communityorganisations feelabout their studentvolunteers?

• 94% agreed that studentvolunteers bring in freshideas on serving their users.

• 87% agreed that studentvolunteers enhance thereputation of the University.

• 87% agreed that studentvolunteers act as goodambassadors for theirorganisation.

• 81% agreed that studentvolunteers enable them to dowork they otherwise wouldnot be able to afford to do.

Executive Summary

7. Recommendations

• Increase publicity about volunteering to raise awareness of the range ofvolunteering opportunities available and the benefits of voluntary work

• Consider a programme of presentations in academic departments andwork more closely with tutors to highlight relevant volunteeringopportunities for students

• Explore ways of increasing staff participation in volunteering, such aspaid time off for volunteering or as an option for staff development days

• Encourage projects to collect feedback from their users to help assessthe impact of student volunteers

• Assess the ability of the Volunteering Project to deal with an increase instudent and staff volunteers to ensure they receive adequate support

The research has evidenced that volunteering not only has a positiveimpact on the local community but also on volunteers themselves.Students gain personal satisfaction and enjoyment from their volunteeringbut also develop the key skills that graduate employers look for.Volunteering provides students with valuable work experience and thecomments from graduate employers show that voluntary work enhancesa graduate’s CV and can help to set them apart from their counterparts. It would appear that volunteering is a win-win activity: community groupsbenefit from extra support; volunteers gain personal satisfaction and newskills; employers gain skilled graduates and the University strengthens itslinks with the local community.

The research has highlighted that there is more we can do to increaseparticipation in voluntary work and ways in which we can achieve this.The recommendations in the report will enable us to plan thedevelopment of the Volunteering Project with the aim of furtherincreasing participation in voluntary work at the University of Leicester.

For further information or to request a copy of the full report,please contact:

Community Liaison Team, Careers Service, College House, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH

Tel: 0116 252 3890

Email: volunteering@le.ac.uk

Researcher: Colin Hyde

Acknowledgements: Korin Grant, Birgit Lewis, Megan Murray, Isla Brookes & Vanessa Harris

I think a degree is not agolden ticket to a greatjob, it is competitive andgraduates can really raisetheir game by undertakingsome voluntary work. It sets grads apart fromtheir counterparts andprovides great workexperience to make thetransition into the workplace smoother. Ultimatelyit makes graduates moreemployable.

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