Ollscoil na Gaillimhe - University of Galway
EN-13: Community Service

Academic contracts typically 20% of time for 'contribution', e.g.

Contribution and Scholarly Activity

"To participate in academic administration at School, College and University levels as part of their contribution to the University. To engage with the wider community regionally, nationally and internationally from a civic, economic, social and cultural perspective as a contribution to the life of the University.  In representing the University externally, the postholder is expected to maintain the highest professional standards, thereby enhancing the reputation of the University."

https://www.universityofgalway.ie/media/publicsub-sites/engineering/uploads/0000646495-3xLAB-ext.pdf

This is also considered in academic promotions, e.g.

https://www.universityofgalway.ie/media/registrar/academicpromotions/files/Senior-Lecturer-Associate-Professor-Criteria-R10.pdf

Furthermore, the University enables staff members to participate in a wide range of voluntary activities on and off campus. For example, the Community & University Sustainability Partnership is a multi-disciplinary, voluntary team of students and staff from across the campus and community partners all working together with the common aim of establishing the university as a leading institutional model for sustainability. Further information: https://www.universityofgalway.ie/sustainability/aboutus/thecuspteam/ 

University of Galway students complete community service through (1) service learning and (2) volunteering through the ALIVE programme.

1) Service Learning is a pedagogical tool that encourages students to learn and explore issues vital to society inside and outside the classroom and instil in students a sense of social responsibility and civic awareness. Over 1400 University of Galway students learn through service learning each academic year through their participation with over 500 community partners. These students connect theory to practice within the community sector, in over 60 academic modules that are led and supported by University of Galway lecturers and community partners. Further information: https://stories.nuigalway.ie/service-learning-modules/index.html 

The number of hours served per student is not recorded, however, we can estimate it based on ECTS credit. One 5 ECTS module equates to 100 hours of student effort. Assuming that one-quarter of the time spent in a service learning module directly contributes to community service gives 25 hours x 1400 students = 35,000 hours.

2) ALIVE - A Learning Initiative and the Volunteering Experience - is University of Galway's student volunteering programme. ALIVE is dedicated to supporting students to engage in positive volunteering experiences in communities across Galway and beyond. We help match student volunteers to community projects, provide training to enhance volunteering experiences, and recognise commitment through awards.

ALIVE connects students to volunteering projects:

• off campus: charities, schools, hospitals, non-profit groups and communities
• on campus: peer to peer mentoring, health programmes, social enterprises

Through a wide range of volunteer roles, that fit into student schedules and life, ALIVE assists students who want to develop tangible and transferable skills while they are gaining practical volunteering experience.

https://www.universityofgalway.ie/student-life/campus-activities/volunteering.html 

https://www.studentvolunteer.ie/universityofgalway 

Due to staffing changes, updated data is not currently available for the number of students involved in ALIVE and the number of hours of community service completed. Therefore, it has been necessary to assume that these figures have remained steady since the last STARS submission: 1,296 students involved, 59,512 hours completed.