DUSA Achieves Volunteer Friendly Status

Published On Wed 2 Jul 2014

Dundee University Students’ Association (DUSA) has received official accreditation through the Volunteer Friendly Award Scheme. This will enable DUSA to officially recognise and reward its volunteers, enhancing students’ CVs and employability as a result.

Working towards the Volunteer Friendly Award has taken around five months and has involved gathering and presenting a robust portfolio of evidence that demonstrates how DUSA recruits, supports, protects, rewards and celebrates each volunteer. The preparation was done with the support of the staff from Dundee Volunteer Centre before the final submission to a panel of assessors.

DUSA’s Clubs & Societies Co-ordinator Joanna Kearns said, “We have over 400 volunteers in total, consisting of Executive Committee members, School Presidents, Class Representatives, Society Committee members and our DUSA Media team.

“All of the above dedicate a great deal of time and effort to enhancing the student experience for their peers and affirming our status as Scotland’s number one Students’ Association.  As such, we as an organisation strive to do all we can to help them reach their full potential.”

DUSA now has well over 100 affiliated clubs and societies, demonstrating  students’ keeness to get involved in groups where they can share their interests with others. Also, in an increasingly competitive recruitment environment, potential employees are required to demonstrate the skills they have developed over and above the academic ones acquired through completion of their chosen course. In recognition of this, DUSA are working on a number of exciting ideas to increase the profile of volunteering and student involvement on campus.                                                                                                                                                  

DUSA’s Vice President of Student Activities Douglas Schreiber added, “For years now we have had a great group of talented volunteers covering a vast array of activities. Volunteering is now at the forefront of applying for any job, particularly in Dundee where there is a huge population of students competing.

“Now we can offer a structured process from start to finish for anyone that wants to get involved in volunteering within DUSA whether through societies, DUSA Media or various other representative positions.”

For more information, please contact DUSA’s Clubs & Societies Co-ordinator, Joanna Kearns on 01382 386011 or jkearns@dusa.co.uk.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277