HEACF: case studies of good practice

Partnerships

The HEACF intends to increase the amount of volunteering opportunities and projects in HEIs as well as to develop relationships between HEIs and their local communities. Many HEIs have identified that an excellent way to address both these objectives was to build upon volunteering work already established and to create partnership arrangements with local community stakeholders to deliver HEACF projects.

Student Community Action (SCA) was already present in the vast majority of HEIs in England, usually led by the students' union or guild of students. Its status varies, from a student-run society operating in the same way as any student society, to having support from dedicated student development staff, though still retaining its student-led ethos. SCA, while not a single, cohesive, national organisation, has a strong identity amongst students, volunteering/student development practitioners and volunteering organisations external to HEIs. Its success locally is varied, with some well-established SCAs attracting student volunteers by the hundreds and running a large portfolio of projects. Newer societies can have a far harder time attracting this volume of volunteers, perhaps due to the added pressure of having to create a culture of volunteering - or at the least to get students to make explicit their interest in volunteering, without the benefit of substantial peer word-of-mouth.

It seems natural, then, for HEIs to look in the first instance at developing a partnership with the institution's existing SCA group - given the fact that students' unions cannot apply directly for HEACF funding. A large number of HEIs have taken this approach, the outcome being a number of different, successful models for developing such a partnership.

External partnerships are also another clear route for HEIs to follow in delivering their HEACF objectives. This can take the form of partnership with one major local organisation, such as the local council, in order to identify together ways in which the HEACF could benefit the local community. Potentially, this method will involve the development of further partnerships later in the relationship, typically with agencies of the local council, or with entirely separate beneficiary organisations (such as schools and youth clubs).

Partnerships have also been developed with smaller beneficiary organisations, with very focused aims and objectives, in order to run specific projects directly. This could be with local hospitals, schools, prisons and centres for asylum.

Both internal and external types of partnership are explored in the case studies within this section.

Download

[ MS Word 183K | Zipped MS Word 30K | PDF 70K | Zipped PDF 53K ]