An online student volunteering platform boasting 20,000 students among its ranks is taking a major step forward with plans to expand its service.
University of Limerick will lead StudentVolunteer.ie (SV.ie) into its next phase, scaling the service offering to all higher education institutions across Ireland and attracting new strategic partnerships.
UL was selected following a competitive process to lead the platform, management of which is transferring from the Irish Universities Association (IUA) to the Limerick institution and several partners from across the sector.
UL will work in partnership with University College Dublin, University College Cork, Technological University of Dublin and University of Galway to fund the platform and maximise the impact of student volunteering in Ireland, which has seen an average of 18,000 students engaged in volunteering with an economic value of close to €30 million per year.
There are already 20,000 students registered on SV.ie, which was launched in 2016 as an online portal to match student volunteers with community action projects and to work in partnership with local, and global nonprofit organisations.
The ambition for the portal is to significantly scale numbers, societal and economic impact based on the proven approach that has been developed by UL, UCD, UCC, TUD and University of Galway to date.
The announcement coincides with International Volunteer Day on December 5, also the day on which UL’s annual President’s Volunteer Award (PVA) Ceremony is being held and at which an impressive 530 UL students are receiving awards.
These awards, year on year, represent a meaningful engagement by UL students with their local and international communities and represent experiences that go to the heart of what it means to be a UL student.
Speaking about the new leadership role for SV.ie, President of University of Limerick, Professor Kerstin Mey said: “We are very ambitious about the next phase of this valuable service. UL has always put community engagement at the heart of our mission. Our Irish and international student volunteers act as role models for our at-risk children and young people and are essential to running community programmes and delivering local community-based services.
“At UL we place a high value on student volunteering which is reflected in our annual President’s Volunteer Awards. Students also directly benefit from volunteering, growing in confidence and gaining work-ready skills such as teamwork, project management, public speaking and more.”
The next phase for SV.ie will be led by prominent expert in student volunteering, Dr Lorraine Tansey, who launched and scaled the hugely successful ALIVE Programme in University of Galway, running for nineteen years. It is recognised globally as a champion for pushing student volunteering practice and impact to new summits.
Dr Tansey is also currently a member of Ireland’s National Volunteer Strategy Implementation Group and will be taking up a post in UL as part of the expansion.
Speaking at the UL PVA ceremony, Dr Tansey said: “I am driven by the student appetite for hands-on opportunities to make an impact and change within communities. I know from an abundance of evidence, that student volunteering has profound and lasting positive effects on students during their college experience. Volunteering gives students a sense of purpose, fuels ambition to address disadvantage in community settings, supports active citizenship and safeguards against isolation and disengagement.”
Kate Morris, IUA Head of Campus Engage, said: “Evidence from the 2022 Student Engagement indicates we are greatly underserving a demand for volunteering opportunities from universities, technological universities and institutes of technology students, at all levels.
“The time is right to move from proof-of-concept to full-scale implementation of StudentVolunteer.ie across every campus and community in Ireland. To do this the system needs, and deserves, dedicated expert leadership, and greater involvement of students working at the frontline and on campus.”
Alongside the 20,000 students already registered on the portal, there are 945 community-based organisation staff actively posting, and 298,569 hours logged as volunteered by students, across Irish rural and urban community settings, delivering services and generating funds to keeps community services operating.
This next phase will increase the level and intensity of engagement with students, community-based organisations, government and corporate sponsors across the regions; and better link the StudentVolunteer.ie service and portal with national and global volunteering infrastructures.
At UL, the Student Volunteer Office is providing opportunities through events like the recent Volunteer Fair to delve into exciting volunteer prospects that align with their passions and interests.
Community partner organisations are facilitated to share valuable insights about their mission, underlining the importance of volunteering and investing time and effort into engaging with students.
“Becoming a student volunteer is not just about making an impact, it is a journey to building lifelong friendships, developing vital skills, exploring personal passions, and enhancing opportunities after graduation,” explained Dr Tansey.
“Joining the community of student volunteers opens doors to a world of opportunities and meaningful connections.”