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Portsmouth university students are beginning to have an impact far beyond the city and well before they even graduate because of the unpaid work they do. National institutions including the probation service, Relate and the Citizens' Advice Bureau have all benefited from the expertise of students. Volunteering is run and co-ordinated by the university's Purple Door recruitment office which acts as a go-between for local businesses wanting talent and students wanting to try out jobs before committing to a career or to gain an advantage in the job market when they graduate. In the two years the service has been operating nearly 300 students have volunteered their skills and time. But this year the breadth of roles they are signing up for has doubled on last year's figures. Their ideas and influence extend from consulting on coastal defences and redesigning websites to doing administrative work, and from creating marketing campaigns and working with offenders to providing business, finance or HR advice to small companies. Volunteer and graduate recruitment officer Alice Hickman said: "In the two years we have run volunteering the breadth of what students will do has grown extraordinarily. We have companies coming to us from across the city asking for help for anything from graphic design and IT to redesigning a whole company's marketing brand. "Volunteering is bigger than ever and many of the students have had an influence on national institutions. Students have created a Walk Wonders event for Macmillan cancer support in Portsmouth and, in Sussex, the Sussex Unpaid Work Team asked student volunteers help design leaflets and they were so impressed with the quality of the students' work they are now considering re-branding all their leaflets. "Students volunteering at Relate had an idea to hand out wooden roses for Valentine's Day with relationship advice engraved on to the stems and that is now being considered at a national level." Last year 82 students signed up to help in various roles throughout the city and this year so far more than 200 have attended volunteering events to find out more and meet employers willing to use their talents and time. Students or businesses wanting to find out more about volunteering can contact Alice Hickman on 02392 842703. News Source: www.port.ac.uk |
