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Thursday, 31 May 2012

Students planted the dunes, made deliveries for FoodBank and cleaned up the grounds at a dogs' refuge during a two-hour community blitz for National Volunteers Week.

The Guild Volunteer Hub is a thriving centre offering opportunities for students to become involved in the community. But it stepped up its activities during the volunteers week, almost doubling the number of students who have volunteered for community work this year.

Hub assistant Sally Beer said about 100 students had already done community work through the Guild initiative this year and a further 80 became involved during volunteers week. About 1,000 students were involved last year and it is expected that at least this many will do some volunteering this year.

The report that led to the development of New Courses, Education for Tomorrow's World , initially recommended that students be required to devote a minimum of 20 hours to community service during their undergraduate years. With further consideration, the University decided not to require students to volunteer but to encourage them to do so and to work in partnership with the Guild Volunteer Hub.

"There is definitely a growing culture towards volunteering," Ms Beer said. "The Hub started two-and-a-half years ago, and last year Murdoch University followed our lead.

"The students are most interested in face-to-face programs. The most popular are our refugee programs where students teach English at Parkwood Primary School and Balga Senior High School.

" The Hub's regular programs also include teaching computer skills, at the Subiaco Library, to people who live in social housing.

This year students have visited Bethanie nursing homes, playing cards and chatting with the residents; they have helped to deliver The Big Issue magazine to waiting rooms and reception areas around the city; they assisted with the running of the Mother's Day Classic fundraising run at Langley Park; spent a day playing with disadvantaged children for Edmund Rice Camps; and are working at the Rio Tinto Naturescape in King Park.

During National Volunteers Week (14 May to 20 May) the Guild ran VFest, in which they introduced more students to volunteering.

"Our VFest partners were FoodBank, the Shenton Park Dogs Refuge, Cottesloe CoastCare and the intensive English language centre at Parkwood," Ms Beer said. "Some of these are new partners who we hope will stay with us."

Wayne Howells, Managing Director of the Guild, said he was confident that student-run events enhanced the ability to attract student volunteers. "The volunteers who run the program also gain valuable experience," he said.

About 600 students are on the Hub data base. Ms Beer said their volunteer community service was noted on the supplementary student transcripts which sit alongside their academic transcripts. The University is also working towards an expansion of service learning, which embeds community engagement activities in units of study within the academic curriculum.

Academic Council has recently approved six such units for recognition on a student's academic transcript as Service Learning Units. An annotation on the transcript will indicate that these involve community service that has been structured and assessed as part of a formal educational experience.

It is expected that more units will gain this recognition in the near future.

Published in UWA News , 28 May 2012

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