research final ENG100

National Economics University Center for Advanced Educational ProgramsResearch Report on Volunteering of National Economics University’s Intake 57 Students: Real Situation and Solutions

National Economics University Center for Advanced Educational Programs

Research Report on Volunteering of National Economics University’s Intake 57 Students:

Real Situation and Solutions

Instructor: Mrs Nguy Thuy Trang

Ngo Dang Huy Nguyen Duy Khai Hoang Quoc Khanh

Le Dang Hoang

Hanoi, November 2015

Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to express our profound gratitudeand deep regard to our teacher: Mrs Nguy Thuy Trang, for her exemplary guidance,valuable feedback and constant encouragement throughout the duration of the research.Her valuable suggestions were of immense help throughout our project work Herperceptive criticism kept us working to make this project in a much better way Workingunder her was an extremely knowledgeable experience for us

Secondly, we would also like to give our sincere gratitude to all the NationalEconomics University’s intake 57 students who filled in the survey, without which thisresearch would be incomplete

Moreover, this research was partially supported by our classmates Thank you forproviding insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research

Fourthly, we thank each of us ourselves for the stimulating discussions, for thesleepless nights we were working together before deadlines, and for all the fun we havehad in the course

Last but not least, we also place on record, our sense of gratitude to one and all,who directly or indirectly, have lent their hand in this venture

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ……….2

List of figures ……… 4

Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Proposal Research Topic ……….5

2 Background ……….5

3 Rational ……… 5

4 Purposes ……… 5

5 Scope ……… 5

6 Research Questions ……….6

7 Research Method ……… 6

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 1 History of voluntary activities ………6

2 Types of voluntary activities ……… 7

3 Advantages of voluntary activities ………9

4 The problems of volunteering ……… 12

5 The targets of voluntary activities ………12

6 Examples of typical volunteer organizations ………13

Chapter 3 DATA ANALYSIS 1 Real situation of National Economics University’s first-year students when it comes to participating volunteer activities ……… 14

2 Solutions to mentioned problems ………24

Chapter 3 SUMMARY 1 Summary ……… 25

2 Theoretical implications ………25

3 Limitations of the research ………26

4 Suggestions for further research ……… 26

Reference ……… 27

Appendix ……… 28

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures

Chart 1 - Student’s location ……….15

Chart 2 - Students’ state of residence ……….……….16

Chart 3 - The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities ………17

Chart 4 - Reasons for not taking part in voluntary activities ……… 18

Chart 5 - Parents’ opinions about volunteering ……… 19

Chart 6 - Students’ frequency of volunteering ……… 20

Chart 7 - The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities at National Economic University ……… 21

Chart 8 - Best benefit you gained from National Economics University’s voluntary activities ………22

Chart 9 - Students’ comments on National Economic University’s voluntary activities 23

Chart10 - Some key solutions to problems ……….24

Chapter 1 Introduction.

1 Proposal Research Topic.

Solutions to motivate National Economics University’s first-year students to takepart in volunteer activities

2 Background.

One of the most frequently asked questions by first-year students is: “Besidesstudying, what activities should they join in university?” And most given advices arevolunteer activities So why do first year students ought to take part in volunteeractivities? Firstly, volunteering is a perfect vehical to self-discover, learn and developsocial and relationship skills since you are meeting regularly with a group of people withcommon interests Also, instructing other volunteers will help you gain experiments toincrease teamwork and leadership ability Next, joining a volunteer club brings fun andfulfillment to your life because you can escape from your day-to-day routine of work,school, or family commitments Moreover, if you are lucky, you will find out somethingthat you indulge in Finally, an affirmative that after graduating, with a universitycertificate and valuable skills you benefit from volunteer activities, looking for a job isnot a difficult task anymore

3 Rational.

National Economics University is popularly known for the remarkable volunteertradition Volunteer clubs such as: NEU’s Students Volunteer Club, Black N have mademany meaningful activities for the school as well as the society National EconomicsUniversity’s students are very enthusiastic about joining those clubs to dedicate theiryouth and passion for volunteering activities However there are still a small group ofstudents who have not realized the profit from non-profit activities

4 Purposes.

The research is aim at:

- Helping National Economics University’s first year students to realize theimportance of joining volunteer activities

- Motivating them to take part in volunteer activities more

5 Scope: National Economics University’s freshmen

+ Conduct online survey and give handout questionnaire paper.

• Deliver approximately 10-15 questions

• Collect results

• Analyze data

• Use data in the research

Chapter 2 Literature Review

1 History of voluntary activities

According to Wikipedia, during 19th century, America experienced the GreatAwakening Many people are against slavery Younger people started helping the needy intheir communities During the American Civil War, a women name Clara Barton called

“Angel of Battlefield” and a team of volunteers began providing aid to servicemen.Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and began mobilizing volunteers fordisaster relief operations, including relief for victims of the Johnstown Flood in 1889

Prior to the 19th century, there were some formal charitable organizations existed

to work for disadvantaged people and the Salvation Army is one of the oldest and largestorganizations

In the first few decades of the 20th century, several volunteer organizations werefounded, including the Rotary International, Kiwanis International, Association of JuniorLeagues International, and Lions Clubs International

The Great Depression saw one of the first large-scale, nationwide efforts tocoordinate volunteering for a specific need During World War II, thousands of volunteeroffices supervised the volunteers who helped with the many needs of the military and the

home front, including collecting supplies, entertaining soldiers on leave, and caring forthe injured

After World War II, when President Lyndon B Johnson declared a War on

Poverty in 1964, volunteer opportunities started to expand and continued into the nextfew decades The process for finding volunteer work became more formalized, with morevolunteer centers forming and new ways to find work appearing on the World Wide Web.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service (in 2012),about 64.5 million Americans, or 26.5 percent of the adult population, gave 7.9 billionhours of volunteer service worth $175 billion This calculates at about 125–150 hours peryear or 3 hours per week at a rate of $22 per hour Volunteer hours in the UK are similar;the data for other countries is unavailable

2 Types of voluntary activities

We also classified the types of voluntary activities based on the content fromWikipedia Voluntary activities can be divided into ten different categories:

2.1 Volunteering as utilized by service learning programs

Many school on all education levels offer service-learning, which allow thestudents to serve a group through volunteering while earning educational credit.Alexander Astin said that widespread adoption of service learning is a helpful forstudents to become more caring and responsible citizens and parents, for colleges anduniversities to serve society well Volunteering in service learning seems to have theresult of engaging both mind and heart Janet Eyler and Dwight E Giles conducted anational study of American college students to ascertain the significance of servicelearning programs in order to, examine the impact of service learning on students Theydescribe that students like service learning and gain more efficient from service learningthan from traditional instruction

2.3 Volunteering in developing countries

International volunteering often aims to give participants valuable skills andknowledge in addition to benefits to the host community and organization, including

teaching English, working in orphanages, conservation, assisting non-governmentalorganizations and medical work.

2.4 Virtual volunteering

Virtual volunteer completes tasks, in whole or in part, offsite from theorganization being assisted by using technology applications Virtual volunteering is alsoknown as cyber service, telemetering, and teletutoring

Volunteering in schools can be an additional teaching guide for the students andhelp to fill the gap of local teachers Cultural and language exchange during teaching andother school activities can be the most essential learning experience for both students andvolunteers

2.9 Corporate volunteering

Employee Volunteering Programs (EVPs), also called Employer SupportedVolunteering (ESV), are regarded as a part of the companies' sustainability efforts andtheir social responsibility activities About 40% of Fortune 500 companies provide

monetary donations The key drivers for companies that produce and manage EVPs arebuilding brand awareness and affinity, strengthening trust and loyalty among consumers,enhancing corporate image and reputation, improving employee retention, increasingemployee productivity and loyalty, and providing an effective vehicle to reach strategicgoals.

2.10 Community voluntary work

Community volunteering refers globally to those who work to improve their localcommunity This activity commonly occurs through profit organizations, localgovernments and churches and encompasses ad-hoc or informal groups such asrecreational sports teams

3 Advantages of voluntary activities.

3.1 The health benefits of voluntary activities

After doing some research on Robert, Jr., Kimberly, S., and Nathann, D.’s book:The Health Benefits Of Volunteering, we have found some typical health benefits fromparticipating in voluntary activities:

3.1.1 The benefits of giving through service to others

3.1.2 Volunteering contributes to life satisfaction, and mental health.3.1.3 Volunteering increases physical well-being

3.1.4 Volunteering reduces mortality and illness

Mary M.’s research: Ten Professional Development Benefits of Volunteering that

we have read also give us very useful and informative contents about volunteering’sbenefits

3.2 Voluntary activities improve employability.

A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among

200 of the UK’s leading businesses: 73% of employers would recruit a candidate withvolunteering experience over one without, 94% of employers believe that volunteeringcan add to skills and 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had

benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.

Being a participant of the voluntary organization is also a way to find out whatfield you will do best If you are thinking that you have made a wrong decision inchoosing your current career, go for voluntary activities that are related to your truepassion In addition, joining in a volunteering is the way to add plus points to yourportfolio so you have the tendency to pass the job recruitment over other candidates

3.3 Voluntary activities help you learn or develop a new skill.

Knowledge is valuable and everyone, despite the gender and age, can adopt skillsand knowledge As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow Learn

as if you were to live forever.” It is never too late to learn new skills even though you are

in employment or have finished education You do not have to enroll in courses in school

to achieve knowledge; you can get it through daily activities, especially throughvoluntary activities While volunteering, you can get skills from planning skill, timemanagement skill, budgeting skill to supervisory skill The possibilities are many; youwill have no idea what you will receive after join voluntary work

3.4 Voluntary activities help you connect with the community.

According to Mary M, “We sometimes take for granted the community that we

live in People and societies co-depend on each other for survival but growth of suchthings as commercialism is seeing traditional values being disregarded.” Helping othersand having an impact on people’s wellbeing are great benefits of voluntary activities.Since you are the one who take the advantages from society, why don’t create aconnection with your community and give back somes of the profits that it gives you

3.5 Voluntary activities express motivation and sense of achievement

As the author explained, “as a volunteer you have made a decision to help on yourown accord, free from pressure to act from others Volunteers predominantly express asense of achievement and motivation, and this is ultimately generated from your desireand enthusiasm to help Sometimes volunteers are regarded as do-gooders and those thathold that view also assume that one person can never make a difference It may be true

that no one person can solve all the world’s problems, but what you can do is make thatlittle corner of the world where you live just that little bit better.”

3.6 Voluntary activities discover new interests and hobbies for you.

Finding new interests and hobbies through volunteering can be fun, relaxing andenergizing Being a volunteer in small projects at school, help the laundry for the elders

in your place, fund raising for the orphans, These activities will somewhat help youdiscover new interest and hobbies that you have never thought of Moreover, the energyand sense of fulfillment can carry over to a work situation and sometimes helps to relievetensions and foster new perspectives for old situations

3.7 Voluntary activities are new worthwhile experiences.

There is no better way to have life experience than taking part in voluntaryactivities When volunteering, you will encounter problems that are not in your plan, soyou will learn more from that experiences Mary M said that it is possible to volunteer indeveloping countries and see the direct impact of your actions on some of the mostvulnerable people of the world It will be the blast of your memory whenever youreminisce about

3.8 Meeting a diverse range of people is another benefit of voluntary activities

Volunteering is like tomorrow since you do not know what will happen, who willyou meet, what new skill will you learn and what will it change your life Volunteering is

a small society with people from all gender, age, skin color, backgrounds It gives you achance to meet a wide range of people and create a networking that you cannot calculatethe benefits it will bring Everyone you meet is a great source of information, knowledge,and experience Why don’t you take part in voluntary activities to indirectly learn thatskills and knowledge from them?

3.9 Voluntary activities is an indirect way to send a signal to your employer, teachers, friends and family…

Experiences from voluntary activities will help you become a better version ofyourself When employers or academic institutions look at your volunteer record, theywill see your desire, commitment as well as your dedication to the activities, so they canassume that you will have the same motivation to the job or study

4 Problems of volunteers

According to the survey made by John Braime and Minna Ruohonen (2011), thischart is the summary of responses from 503 students who’d signed up with theirinstitutions’ volunteering service but had not actually participated in any volunteeringactivities The most common answer was “I am/will be too busy with academic work”that makes up for 49 percent of given answer Other popular answers are “project are atsuitable times” (29%) as well as “could not find volunteer role linked to my future”(29%)

Other responds consist of: “unsuitable location of projects”, “language barrier”,

“family commitment”, “I did not have good experience from the previous volunteering”,

Only 2% of respondents said that the reason they did not taken in voluntaryactivities is that they had failed at volunteering interview, and only 1% is due to illnessproblems

In another survey done by John Braime and Minna Ruohonen (2011), problems ofstudents who have taken part in voluntary activities mostly come from: “learning newskills/adapting to environment/training” (35%), “time management” (28%) and

“working/dealing with challenging population (children/disabled) or people fromdifferent background (class/culture/language) (25%)

“Communication and language”, “monetary issues” and “commitment” are alsothe barrier that volunteers have faced while being a participant in voluntary projects

Only 2% of respondents find it hard to obtain motivation In addition, 1% of theanswer given is about not to be able to find the right place to volunteer

5 The targets of voluntary activities

Voluntary activities help everyone who needs support.

6 Examples of typical volunteer organizations

Based on the article of Sarah V about “2015 Best Volunteer Abroad Programs,Organizations, & Projects” on the website Volunteer Forever, we can conclude some bestorganizations in voluntary field

Global Vision International (GVI)

Founded in 1997 by Richard Walton, Global Vision International providesvolunteer and internship opportunities in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, LatinAmerica, and North America GVI has sent more than 20,000 volunteers overseas onprograms ranging from construction, to animal care, to education, and beyond

Naturally Africa Volunteers (NAV)

Naturally Africa Volunteers (NAV) coordinates sustainable, community-centeredprojects throughout Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, and Namibia.Naturally Africa Volunteers seeks to solidify its change on two levels by coordinatinghigh-impact, well-researched volunteers programs and by supporting its internationalvolunteers from the moment they join the project

Projects Abroad

Projects Abroad was founded in 1992 by Dr Peter Slowe, and currently sendsmore than 10,000 people overseas every year With over 65 reviews, Projects Abroad isone of the most popular and highly rated programs on Volunteer Forever Projects Abroadvolunteers and interns have the opportunity to assist with a wide-range of programsfocusing on agriculture, teaching, sports, archaeology, and more, with projects open toteens, gap year travelers, university students, and professionals

Agape Volunteers

Agape Volunteers is a UK-based non-profit organization that operates low-feevolunteer projects throughout Africa Agape Volunteers was founded by Oxford graduate,Guillaume Lefevre, in 2011 and boasts a perfect 5-star rating on Volunteer Forever Theprogram offers volunteer projects in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Tanzania withprojects ranging from medical volunteering to coaching a football academy in Nairobi

International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ)