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Conference Announcement 

Student Volunteering in Higher Education: Transitions and Turning Points 

Thursday 11th September 2008 

This one day conference is sponsored by the Institute for Learning 
Enhancement, University of Wolverhampton and the Higher Education Academy 
Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP)

It will be held at Wolverhampton Science Park, Glaisher Drive, Wolverhampton 

Participants

We aim to foster discussions between student volunteers, student volunteer 
coordinators, academics and policy makers, representatives of volunteers and 
community sectors. We welcome contributions from all of these stakeholders. 
Papers, workshops and poster demonstrations are welcome from voluntary and 
community sector organisations, students, volunteers, academics, 
practitioners and policy makers.

Conference themes

The student experience of volunteering

Practical curriculum innovations

Policy agendas

New critical perspectives on student volunteering Reflections on university-
community partnerships – what have we learnt? 

Current issues affecting student volunteering 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

We are delighted to announce that our opening keynote speaker will be Phil 
Hope, MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, who was appointed Minister 
for the Third sector in June 2007.

In recent years student volunteering and community based learning 
programmes in higher education have received a much higher profile, thanks to 
the Higher Education Active Funding (HEACF) initiative launched by HEFCE and 
the Home Office in 2002. 

Government policy in recent years has driven this initiative, and many higher 
education institutions have welcomed the opportunity to drive forward their 
community engagement agenda. 

With the ‘Manifesto for Change’ now re-drawing the map for volunteering, and 
demanding a fundamental shake-up to make 'volunteering part of the DNA of 
our society', this conference will look at these developments, and ask 
pertinent questions about these institutional responses, lessons learned, and 
the future of such university-community collaboration.

Why is this important now? 

- Current changes to the third sector

- Delivery of service provision

- Community and university relationships

- Broadening and deepening student learning experiences

- Fragmented university provision, development of different models of student 
volunteering 

Manifesto for change

In the light of the changing nature of the third sector, it is time to take stock 
and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of this. Do such models serve 
the needs of the third sector? Do we need to move university and community 
organisation relations forward in other ways?

With an ever increasing policy focus on voluntary and community sector 
organisations, and the recognition of the importance of the work they do, the 
political and policy frameworks will inform future university and community 
collaborations. The recent publication of the Report of the Commission on the 
Future of Volunteering presents a vision for further development.

 

Conference website http://www.wlv.ac.uk/Default.aspx?page=16895 

Booking form http://asp2.wlv.ac.uk/celt/events/registrationform.doc 

Conference organisers: Pat Green, Pauline Anderson, Andrew Cameron and 
Lynn Bates. 

All enquiries to Lynn Bates, University of Wolverhampton [log in to unmask]