33% increase in the number of students volunteering at the UAB

“The image of young people caring less about things is not true; so many of them become leaders and actively participate in creating social change”, say members of the Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS) in charge of the UAB's volunteering programmes.

The social actions and commitment the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has with those in risk of social exclusion are conducted largely thanks to social and volunteer programmes. These programmes, managed by the Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS), were made possible thanks to the participation of 296 students in the past academic year (2021/22), of which 237 volunteers were women, 57 men and 2 of other genders. Of these 296 volunteers, the majority were between 18 and 20 years old (138), followed by those aged 21 to 25 (100), and the rest were older than 25. In the previous academic year (2020/21), there were 197 students volunteering in these UAB programmes.

The programme with the largest number of volunteers was the Justíce programme (in penitenciaries and the juvenile justice system), with 70 volunteers: followed by the Socio-sanitary programme (in hospitals), with 46 volunteers; the Refugee welcome programme, with 34 volunteers; the socio-educational (in education centres), with 29 volunteers, and the Environmental programme (on campus), with 23 volunteers. A new programme this year was Entre Joves, with a total of 11 volunteers. The programme focuses on accompanying young migrants and is unique in the Catalan university system.

Over 5000 participants 

Volunteering is not the only way to give back to society: last year, a total of 5,074 members of the UAB community (students, administration and services' staff, lecturers and researchers) participated in awareness-raising activities, training and/or academic courses organised by the FAS and focusing on topics such as human rights, migrations, the environment, peace, global justice and health.

Transformative role

At the UAB, volunteering “has a transformative role, and goes beyond the skills students can acquire in class”, says Mireia Ruiz, one of the persons in charge of organising volunteer programmes. She goes on to say that, "in this sense, students acquire other values that help them become critical and committed professionals and citizens”. To participate as a volunteer, students must first receive training coordinated by the Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS): workshops, group activities, etc. “Thanks to this training and the hours dedicated to the volunteering activity itself, students equip themselves differently and acquire skills they cannot find in a classroom. And that is later valued when they enter the labour market”, Mireia Ruiz says.

“Leaving your comfort zone” to work with migrant and refugee students

Different UAB volunteer programmes focus on mentoring. This is the case of the Entre Joves programme, which accompanies recently arrived migrant minors, and the refugee welcome programme. Mentoring can help create friendships and students win their trust and become a positive role model. At the same time, the mentor (volunteer) is able to learn first-hand about different and very distant social realities.

For volunteer Àxel Cortés, enrolled in the bachelor's degree in Neuroscience, “it is a way of leaving your comfort zone: you meet a person who comes from a completely different background and in the end there is a friendship in which each person learns from the other, and that is very enriching”. “In the end, you realise they are young people like us, and that they are not that different. They have the same age, the same hopes and dreams”, he adds.

Volunteering in a prison 

Another of the more popular volunteering programmes is the Justice programme, taking place in penitenciaries (Brians I, Brians II, Quatre Camins and Puig de les Basses) and in juvenile detention centres (Oriol Badia and Folch i Torres). Volunteers conduct tasks which lead to the social integration and reinsertion of these people through academic and social-professional activities. “Maybe it is the most attractive programme because it is a world you wouldn't be able to discover otherwise”, FAS's Mireia Ruiz explains. “Students get a magnificent opportunity to grow personally, it is a life experience they will never forget”.

Ten volunteering programmes

In this 2022/23 academic year, the UAB offers ten different programmes with activities related to the environment, the promotion of health, equal opportunities, school success, and the rights of migrants and refugees:

-Refugee welcome: to contribute to fully including people seeking refuge through social mentoring actions and participating in awareness-raising activities on campus. More information

-Justice: to contribute to breaking the seclusion and favouring the social integration of inmates, through academic and socio-cultural activities in prisons or juvenile detention centres. More information

-Environment: to construct a more sustainable and environmentally responsible university, with the proposal and development of activities related to nature, the environment and sustainability on campus and virtually. More information

-Support for students/PIUNE: to provide support for students with functional diversity within the classroom. Tasks include taking class notes, reminding them of exams and offering support in practical sessions. More information

-Health: to become a UAB health agent and participate in workshops offering information to students on sexual and emotional relations, drugs and sex health. More information

-Socio-sanitary centres: to accompany hospitalised patients and contribute to improving their quality of life, or helping children and adolescents recover physically and emotionally at the Hospital de la Vall d’Hebron. More information

-CROMA 2.0 - primary education: to conduct entertaining educational workshops for children in risk of social exclusion through thematic projects, designed by UAB research teams in collaboration with other university students.  More information

-Let's Talk - secondary education: to accompany and give support to secondary school students so they can improve their oral skills in English. More information

-Mentoring with secondary students: to become a mentor and work with students from complicated backgrounds to help them succeed academically and encourage them to continue with their compulsory studies. More information

-Entre Joves: to form part of the Entre Joves group and conduct activities with unaccompanied minors, participating in awareness-raising initiatives and working towards a more inclusive and critical society. More information

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT: 2022/23 UAB VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMMES