International volunteering in countries implications for international students volunteering

Abstract

Volunteering has long been a question of great interest in the research field. In light of recent trends, such as increased emphasis on the internationalization of higher education, it is becoming extremely difficult to ignore the existence of people volunteering internationally. However, few studies have examined the possibilities of international students to volunteer. The objective of this current research is to determine and analyse the current projects available for potential volunteers in the Visegrad 4 (V4) countries at the European Solidarity Corps. This paper introduces initial results on the topic, while refraining from entailing the economic effects of volunteering. We found about 650 organizations from V4 countries registered in the European Youth Portal, offering, or hosting, almost 100 projects with volunteering opportunities for international volunteers. Available volunteer activities were enlisted and analysed manually to determine what organizations offer to whom, how and why. Results indicate that the volunteering infrastructure in V4 countries is at least partially ready for international students volunteering