THE ROLE OF STUDENT VOLUNTEERING IN THE US HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

Commitment to volunteering has been and remains the main distinguishing feature of American culture since the founding of the country. Today, American youth are engaged in volunteering through religious, volunteer non-profit organizations, and many large companies organize volunteering opportunities for their employees. There are various volunteer practices based on educational organizations, such as: public and private schools, colleges, universities. The article examines in detail the role of volunteering in the student environment of US universities. Volunteering is a unique practice and allows students to get additional opportunities during their studies at the university and make a real contribution to the development of their educational organization and gain new experience. In US universities both teachers and students are involved in volunteering, which gives reason to misinterpret the concept of volunteering confusing it with service training. That is why this article provides a comparative analysis of the concepts of volunteering and service training. The analysis of scientific papers and articles on the topic of volunteering in US universities allows us to identify the most common forms and formats of the university’s work with volunteers. Thus, the most popular forms of volunteer participation among students are intellectual volunteering and activities aimed at solving specific social problems. The initiatives of the universities themselves in the development of volunteer activities of students are a response to requests from students, local non-profit organizations, and educational organizations. The article provides examples of volunteer practices in US universities and identifies conditions for effective interaction with students for the development of volunteering at the university.

volunteering, volunteer activity, volunteerism, volunteer practice, volunteer projects, service training, US universities, universities, organization of volunteer activities, education in the USA

Timofeeva S. V. The role of student volunteering in the US higher education system. Business. Education. Law, 2022, no. 4, pp. 521—525. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2022.61.491.