Enriching the university experience through volunteering
| Author | Louise Grove,Laura Garius |
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| Published date | 01 May 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758015571474 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Enriching the university
experience through
volunteering: A pilot project
Laura Garius and Louise Grove
Loughborough University, UK
Abstract
This article details the first year of a collaborative effort between a campus-based university and its
local Victim Support scheme. The key innovative component was that student volunteers were
trained to provide support to peers who experienced crime. Not a formal evaluation, this article
outlines how the work appeared beneficial to the university, its students and Victim Support. The
first two benefited through improved on-campus service to victimized students and to those who
were trained and worked as volunteers. Victim Support benefited from increased numbers of
volunteers and consequently improved services. Some implementation difficulties are also
described. This study provides a platform for further efforts and their more formal evaluation.
Keywords
Access to services, peer support, students, victims, voluntary sector
Introduction
Crime in the ‘ivory tower’
Despite recent decreases in crime (van Dijk and Tseloni, 2012), victimization remains a concern
for students, their families and university staff (Hart and Colavito, 2011). Higher education insti-
tutions in the UK have witnessed a 28 percent increase in admissions over the preceding decade,
with 2.49 million students enrolled in the academic year 2009/10 (Universities UK, 2011).
With research suggesting that as many as one in three students will be a victim of crime per annum
(Barberet et al.,2003; Home Office, 2009), the issueof ‘students as victims’ has receivedsignificant
attention from the British government, police and university authorities (Morrall et al., 2010: 823).
Corresponding author:
Laura Garius, Department of Social Sciences, Brockington Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough,
Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK.
Email: l.l.garius@lboro.ac.uk
International Review of Victimology
2015, Vol. 21(2) 233–245
ªThe Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758015571474
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