Volunteers go to college

VSO volunteers preparing to go overseas will receive a University College Foundation Certificate in professional skills for international development after completing VSO’s pre-departure training.

As a matter of fact Harper Adams University College has agreed to accredit two VSO International training courses and thanks to this measure, Voluntary Service Overseas volunteers will now obtain a foundation certificate for their training.

VSO recruits skilled volunteers in fields such as education, health and business and sends them to work on projects in development countries. Their missions last between six months and two years and, at the moment, there are one thousand and six hundred VSO volunteers working in more than forty countries.

According to Emily Lomax, volunteer journey manager at VSO: “Accreditation of volunteer training has been an important step for VSO, in both reflecting the quality of the blended learning programme we already provide and in being able to offer our volunteers a tangible qualification to benefit their future prospects.”

Despite the third sector cuts, it seems like a good moment for volunteering in the U.K. The accreditation results as an extra incentive to start a volunteering activity and the University of Northampton has launched ‘inSpirE Northamptonshire’, to provide training, support and development to social enterprises and voluntary organisations. The University will also integrate social enterprise into teaching and research. As a matter of fact the University of Northampton has announced its intention to become the UK’s leading university for social enterprise.