Economic crisis sparks increase in student volunteers

Fifty-five percent of people in charge of social action in Spanish universities say that the economic crisis has provoked a growth in student volunteering, according to initial reports from a study being published next week by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña.

Students were found to be “more aware and better motivated” to collaborate because of the current economic situation, said respondents to a survey of 60 private and public universities throughout Spain.

The study suggests that students have been affected by having to personally witness hardship and, on occasions, experience it themselves. This has made them “empathise with those most in need and feel the need to do something for other people”, according to the report.

“I feel politicians have turned their backs on the people most in need,” said Laura Zamarriego, 22, a journalism student at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. “I feel a responsibility to do my part to help so I have chosen to work with elderly people in a project called Ningún mayor en soledad [No elderly person alone].

“I can’t give anything material but I think a lot of people need to be offered support on equal terms,” she said.

The report additionally suggests that recent graduates have been more willing to do voluntary work as a result of the scarcity of jobs.

Despite a slight improvement in recent months, unemployment among Spanish youth is still over 53%, according to figures released last July – and university students are three times more likely to be unemployed than the OECD average, according to the organisation’s report Panorama de la Educación 2014.

However, other university spokespeople have suggested that universities’ increasing tendency to offer credits for voluntary work has contributed to this growth.

The most active students are in social science and law departments, followed by science and health science students, according to the report.

Small regional differences were noted.

In Madrid for example students want to involve themselves in projects that are close to where they live, rather than doing something that the university is organising, said a spokesperson from Universidad Europea de Madrid.

Students at Andalucian universities such as the Universidad de Málaga, on the other hand, specifically focus more on those who are at risk of social exclusion; whereas those at the Universidad de Jaén have reportedly shown more interest in international solidarity projects.

As a whole, however, students focus on development projects in their home country.

“The majority of Spanish university students are undertaking voluntary work in Spain, cooperating with groups and collectives that are being especially affected by the crisis,” said Lorenzo Cooklin, director general of the Fundación Mutua Madrileña.

The initial results of the study were released by the foundation to coincide with the Awards for University Voluntary Work II, that seek to promote social action among young people and to give a greater profile to universities that strive to improve society in this way.

Fundación Mutua Madrileña is seeking new team proposals by 1 November 2014, and will then award a total of €25,000 (US$32,000) to develop the schemes.

During almost 40 years of dictatorship, until General Francisco Franco died in 1975, voluntary activity and civil society organisations were strongly discouraged in Spain.