Students, volunteering and social action: Histories and Policies
Background
Higher education students in the UK have a long tradition of voluntary action. Student volunteering in the UK has a long history, from university settlements and missions in the nineteenth century to workcamps for the unemployed in the interwar period to CND protesting and Student Community Action after the Second World War. Despite recent research and policy interest in volunteering by university students as well as in the broader topic of how higher education institutions can improve their public or community engagement, the history of the movement remains a relatively underexplored field.
IVR and Student Hubs have inititated a small project to fill key gaps in the history of student volunteering and social action and locate its evolution in the broader context of nineteenth and twentieth century social, economic and political history. The work is being supported by small grants from the Economic History Society and St John's College, Oxford.
Methods
We have formed a working group consisting of academics, researchers, workers in student volunteering and policy makers to support the work. In June 2010 we organised a witness seminar (an oral history group interview) to bring former student volunteers from the 1960s to 1990s together to discuss their experiences and we will publish the transcript shortly. In November we are hosting a one-day symposium for academics and research students to present research on the topic.
Links
A brief history of student volunteering
Students, Volunteering and Social Action: Histories and Policies
Student Volunteering - a Short History (video)
Contact
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