National Economics University Center for Advanced Educational Programs Research Report on Volunteering of National Economics University’s Intake 57 Students: Real Situation and Solutions Instructor: Mrs Nguy Thuy Trang Ngo Dang Huy Nguyen Duy Khai Hoang Quoc Khanh Le Dang Hoang Hanoi, November 2015 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude and deep regard to our teacher: Mrs Nguy Thuy Trang, for her exemplary guidance, valuable feedback and constant encouragement throughout the duration of the research Her valuable suggestions were of immense help throughout our project work Her perceptive criticism kept us working to make this project in a much better way Working under her was an extremely knowledgeable experience for us Secondly, we would also like to give our sincere gratitude to all the National Economics University’s intake 57 students who filled in the survey, without which this research would be incomplete Moreover, this research was partially supported by our classmates Thank you for providing insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research Fourthly, we thank each of us ourselves for the stimulating discussions, for the sleepless nights we were working together before deadlines, and for all the fun we have had in the course Last but not least, we also place on record, our sense of gratitude to one and all, who directly or indirectly, have lent their hand in this venture 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………….2 List of figures …………………………………………………………………………… Chapter Introduction Proposal Research Topic ……………………………………………………………….5 Background …………………………………………………………………………….5 Rational ……………………………………………………………………………… Purposes ……………………………………………………………………………… 5 Scope ………………………………………………………………………………… Research Questions …………………………………………………………………….6 Research Method …………………………………………………………………… Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW History of voluntary activities …………………………………………………………6 Types of voluntary activities ………………………………………………………… Advantages of voluntary activities ……………………………………………………9 The problems of volunteering ……………………………………………………… 12 The targets of voluntary activities ……………………………………………………12 Examples of typical volunteer organizations …………………………………………13 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS Real situation of National Economics University’s first-year students when it comes to participating volunteer activities ……………………………………………………… 14 Solutions to mentioned problems ……………………………………………………24 Chapter SUMMARY Summary …………………………………………………………………………… 25 Theoretical implications ………………………………………………………………25 Limitations of the research ……………………………………………………………26 Suggestions for further research …………………………………………………… 26 Reference ……………………………………………………………………………… 27 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………… 28 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figures Chart - Student’s location …………………………………………………………….15 Chart - Students’ state of residence …………………………………….…………….16 Chart - The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities ……………………17 Chart - Reasons for not taking part in voluntary activities ………………………… 18 Chart - Parents’ opinions about volunteering ……………………………………… 19 Chart - Students’ frequency of volunteering ………………………………………… 20 Chart - The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities at National Economic University ……………………………………………………………………………… 21 Chart - Best benefit you gained from National Economics University’s voluntary activities …………………………………………………………………………………22 Chart - Students’ comments on National Economic University’s voluntary activities 23 Chart10 - Some key solutions to problems …………………………………………….24 4 Chapter Introduction Proposal Research Topic Solutions to motivate National Economics University’s first-year students to take part in volunteer activities Background One of the most frequently asked questions by first-year students is: “Besides studying, what activities should they join in university?” And most given advices are volunteer activities So why first year students ought to take part in volunteer activities? Firstly, volunteering is a perfect vehical to self-discover, learn and develop social and relationship skills since you are meeting regularly with a group of people with common interests Also, instructing other volunteers will help you gain experiments to increase teamwork and leadership ability Next, joining a volunteer club brings fun and fulfillment to your life because you can escape from your day-to-day routine of work, school, or family commitments Moreover, if you are lucky, you will find out something that you indulge in Finally, an affirmative that after graduating, with a university certificate and valuable skills you benefit from volunteer activities, looking for a job is not a difficult task anymore Rational National Economics University is popularly known for the remarkable volunteer tradition Volunteer clubs such as: NEU’s Students Volunteer Club, Black N have made many meaningful activities for the school as well as the society National Economics University’s students are very enthusiastic about joining those clubs to dedicate their youth and passion for volunteering activities However there are still a small group of students who have not realized the profit from non-profit activities Purposes The research is aim at: - Helping National Economics University’s first year students to realize the importance of joining volunteer activities - Motivating them to take part in volunteer activities more Scope: National Economics University’s freshmen 5 Research Questions: - What is the real situation of National Economics University’s first-year students when it comes to participating volunteer activities? - What can be done to solve the mentioned problem? Research Method: - Quantity method: + Conduct online survey and give handout questionnaire paper • • • • Deliver approximately 10-15 questions Collect results Analyze data Use data in the research Chapter Literature Review History of voluntary activities According to Wikipedia, during 19th century, America experienced the Great Awakening Many people are against slavery Younger people started helping the needy in their communities During the American Civil War, a women name Clara Barton called “Angel of Battlefield” and a team of volunteers began providing aid to servicemen Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and began mobilizing volunteers for disaster relief operations, including relief for victims of the Johnstown Flood in 1889 Prior to the 19th century, there were some formal charitable organizations existed to work for disadvantaged people and the Salvation Army is one of the oldest and largest organizations In the first few decades of the 20th century, several volunteer organizations were founded, including the Rotary International, Kiwanis International, Association of Junior Leagues International, and Lions Clubs International The Great Depression saw one of the first large-scale, nationwide efforts to coordinate volunteering for a specific need During World War II, thousands of volunteer offices supervised the volunteers who helped with the many needs of the military and the home front, including collecting supplies, entertaining soldiers on leave, and caring for the injured After World War II, when President Lyndon B Johnson declared a War on 6 Poverty in 1964, volunteer opportunities started to expand and continued into the next few decades The process for finding volunteer work became more formalized, with more volunteer centers forming and new ways to find work appearing on the World Wide Web According to the Corporation for National and Community Service (in 2012), about 64.5 million Americans, or 26.5 percent of the adult population, gave 7.9 billion hours of volunteer service worth $175 billion This calculates at about 125–150 hours per year or hours per week at a rate of $22 per hour Volunteer hours in the UK are similar; the data for other countries is unavailable Types of voluntary activities We also classified the types of voluntary activities based on the content from Wikipedia Voluntary activities can be divided into ten different categories: 2.1 Volunteering as utilized by service learning programs Many school on all education levels offer service-learning, which allow the students to serve a group through volunteering while earning educational credit Alexander Astin said that widespread adoption of service learning is a helpful for students to become more caring and responsible citizens and parents, for colleges and universities to serve society well Volunteering in service learning seems to have the result of engaging both mind and heart Janet Eyler and Dwight E Giles conducted a national study of American college students to ascertain the significance of service learning programs in order to, examine the impact of service learning on students They describe that students like service learning and gain more efficient from service learning than from traditional instruction 2.2 Skills-based volunteering This kind of volunteering focus on specialized skills, the talents to strengthen the infrastructure of nonprofits The average hour of skills-based volunteering is valued at $40–500 an hour, depending on the market value of the time, including medical internship, dental elective, teaching English etc 2.3 Volunteering in developing countries International volunteering often aims to give participants valuable skills and knowledge in addition to benefits to the host community and organization, including 7 teaching English, working in orphanages, conservation, assisting non-governmental organizations and medical work 2.4 Virtual volunteering Virtual volunteer completes tasks, in whole or in part, offsite from the organization being assisted by using technology applications Virtual volunteering is also known as cyber service, telemetering, and teletutoring 2.5 Micro-volunteering Micro-volunteering is operated via an internet-connected device and completed in small increments of time and does not require an application process or a training period 2.6 Environmental volunteering Micro volunteers contribute towards environmental management or conservation Volunteers conduct a range of activities including environmental monitoring, ecological restoration such as re-vegetation and weed removal, protecting endangered animals, and educating others about the natural environment 2.7 Volunteering in an emergency Volunteering often plays a pivotal role in the recovery effort following natural disasters 2.8 Volunteering in schools Resource poor schools around the world rely on government support or on efforts from volunteers and private donations There are many opportunities available in school systems for volunteers Yet, there are not many requirements in order to volunteer in a school system Volunteers can add relevant experience to their resumes Volunteers who travel to assist may learn foreign culture and language Volunteering in schools can be an additional teaching guide for the students and help to fill the gap of local teachers Cultural and language exchange during teaching and other school activities can be the most essential learning experience for both students and volunteers 2.9 Corporate volunteering Employee Volunteering Programs (EVPs), also called Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV), are regarded as a part of the companies' sustainability efforts and their social responsibility activities About 40% of Fortune 500 companies provide 8 monetary donations The key drivers for companies that produce and manage EVPs are building brand awareness and affinity, strengthening trust and loyalty among consumers, enhancing corporate image and reputation, improving employee retention, increasing employee productivity and loyalty, and providing an effective vehicle to reach strategic goals 2.10 Community voluntary work Community volunteering refers globally to those who work to improve their local community This activity commonly occurs through profit organizations, local governments and churches and encompasses ad-hoc or informal groups such as recreational sports teams Advantages of voluntary activities 3.1 The health benefits of voluntary activities After doing some research on Robert, Jr., Kimberly, S., and Nathann, D.’s book: The Health Benefits Of Volunteering, we have found some typical health benefits from participating in voluntary activities: 3.1.1 The benefits of giving through service to others 3.1.2 Volunteering contributes to life satisfaction, and mental health 3.1.3 Volunteering increases physical well-being 3.1.4 Volunteering reduces mortality and illness Mary M.’s research: Ten Professional Development Benefits of Volunteering that we have read also give us very useful and informative contents about volunteering’s benefits 3.2 Voluntary activities improve employability A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses: 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without, 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills and 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had 9 benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted Being a participant of the voluntary organization is also a way to find out what field you will best If you are thinking that you have made a wrong decision in choosing your current career, go for voluntary activities that are related to your true passion In addition, joining in a volunteering is the way to add plus points to your portfolio so you have the tendency to pass the job recruitment over other candidates 3.3 Voluntary activities help you learn or develop a new skill Knowledge is valuable and everyone, despite the gender and age, can adopt skills and knowledge As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow Learn as if you were to live forever.” It is never too late to learn new skills even though you are in employment or have finished education You not have to enroll in courses in school to achieve knowledge; you can get it through daily activities, especially through voluntary activities While volunteering, you can get skills from planning skill, time management skill, budgeting skill to supervisory skill The possibilities are many; you will have no idea what you will receive after join voluntary work 3.4 Voluntary activities help you connect with the community According to Mary M, “We sometimes take for granted the community that we live in People and societies co-depend on each other for survival but growth of such things as commercialism is seeing traditional values being disregarded.” Helping others and having an impact on people’s wellbeing are great benefits of voluntary activities Since you are the one who take the advantages from society, why don’t create a connection with your community and give back somes of the profits that it gives you 3.5 Voluntary activities express motivation and sense of achievement As the author explained, “as a volunteer you have made a decision to help on your own accord, free from pressure to act from others Volunteers predominantly express a sense of achievement and motivation, and this is ultimately generated from your desire and enthusiasm to help Sometimes volunteers are regarded as do-gooders and those that hold that view also assume that one person can never make a difference It may be true 10 10 Experiences from voluntary activities will help you become a better version of yourself When employers or academic institutions look at your volunteer record, they will see your desire, commitment as well as your dedication to the activities, so they can assume that you will have the same motivation to the job or study Problems of volunteers According to the survey made by John Braime and Minna Ruohonen (2011), this chart is the summary of responses from 503 students who’d signed up with their institutions’ volunteering service but had not actually participated in any volunteering activities The most common answer was “I am/will be too busy with academic work” that makes up for 49 percent of given answer Other popular answers are “project are at suitable times” (29%) as well as “could not find volunteer role linked to my future” (29%) Other responds consist of: “unsuitable location of projects”, “language barrier”, “family commitment”, “I did not have good experience from the previous volunteering”, Only 2% of respondents said that the reason they did not taken in voluntary activities is that they had failed at volunteering interview, and only 1% is due to illness problems In another survey done by John Braime and Minna Ruohonen (2011), problems of students who have taken part in voluntary activities mostly come from: “learning new skills/adapting to environment/training” (35%), “time management” (28%) and “working/dealing with challenging population (children/disabled) or people from different background (class/culture/language) (25%) “Communication and language”, “monetary issues” and “commitment” are also the barrier that volunteers have faced while being a participant in voluntary projects Only 2% of respondents find it hard to obtain motivation In addition, 1% of the answer given is about not to be able to find the right place to volunteer The targets of voluntary activities 12 12 Voluntary activities help everyone who needs support Examples of typical volunteer organizations Based on the article of Sarah V about “2015 Best Volunteer Abroad Programs, Organizations, & Projects” on the website Volunteer Forever, we can conclude some best organizations in voluntary field Global Vision International (GVI) Founded in 1997 by Richard Walton, Global Vision International provides volunteer and internship opportunities in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Latin America, and North America GVI has sent more than 20,000 volunteers overseas on programs ranging from construction, to animal care, to education, and beyond Naturally Africa Volunteers (NAV) Naturally Africa Volunteers (NAV) coordinates sustainable, community-centered projects throughout Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, and Namibia Naturally Africa Volunteers seeks to solidify its change on two levels by coordinating high-impact, well-researched volunteers programs and by supporting its international volunteers from the moment they join the project Projects Abroad Projects Abroad was founded in 1992 by Dr Peter Slowe, and currently sends more than 10,000 people overseas every year With over 65 reviews, Projects Abroad is one of the most popular and highly rated programs on Volunteer Forever Projects Abroad volunteers and interns have the opportunity to assist with a wide-range of programs focusing on agriculture, teaching, sports, archaeology, and more, with projects open to teens, gap year travelers, university students, and professionals Agape Volunteers Agape Volunteers is a UK-based non-profit organization that operates low-fee volunteer projects throughout Africa Agape Volunteers was founded by Oxford graduate, Guillaume Lefevre, in 2011 and boasts a perfect 5-star rating on Volunteer Forever The program offers volunteer projects in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Tanzania with projects ranging from medical volunteering to coaching a football academy in Nairobi International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) 13 13 Founded in 2007 by Dan Radcliffe, IVHQ provides a wide variety of affordable volunteer trips to 28 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America IVHQ has placed more than 41,000 volunteers overseas on projects ranging from teaching, to healthcare, to childcare, and more Programs last one week to 24 weeks and start at $180 International Student Volunteers (ISV) Since 2002, ISV has provided volunteer and adventure travel programs to more than 30,000 students across six continents Programs range from conservation, to education, to infrastructure development and beyond, and in addition to ISV’s standard volunteer programs, students are welcome to join for internships and college credit supported by more than 300 universities worldwide Volunteer programs through ISV start at $3,695, depending on the location Chapter Data Analysis I Real situation of National Economics University’s first-year students when it comes to participating volunteer activities Students’ location 14 14 Chart Student’s location The pie chart shows the location of students where they lived before being National Economics University’ students More than half of them lived in Hanoi that takes over 51,4% In 49,6% of students coming from other cities, the rate of urban cities is 18,9% and rural cities is 29,7% There is incomprehensibleness why we ask students’ location while they were studying high school According to some National Economics University’s volunteer, one of the most important things deciding your contribution to voluntary activities in National Economics University is whom you live with? Of course of that, most of students, which have lived with their parents since they started studying high school, wouldn’t change their residence when they become a National Economics University’s students Other students come form other cities can live alone or with their friend As a result of that, they are not controlled by parents so that they can free take part in any voluntary activities they want Students’ state of residence Chart Students’ state of residence Students’ state of residence is one of the reasons that affect the likeliness of participating in voluntary activities This bar chart illustrates the state of residence of students who answered the survey Overall, it can be clearly seen that most students live with their parents (54,10%) If you live with your parents, you might meet the prohibition since some people become a member of too many organizations; the voluntary events take a lot of time and the students cannot balance their study with social activities A smaller number of students have friends as their flat mate, and that accounts for 18,9% In addition, 10,8% of respondents live with their relatives The left 16,2% of students have to take care of themselves as they live alone In contrast to the students living with their parents, the sum 15 15 of 45,9% of students who live with their friends, relatives and alone have more tendency to take part in voluntary activities because they have no restrictions from their parents Have you ever joined any voluntary activities? Chart The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities This pie chart shows the difference in terms of the number of volunteer and nonvolunteer Out of 37 responses, 46% of students are volunteers, while 54% of them have not participated in any voluntary activities As volunteering has become a trend lately, together with the enormous benefits it brings, I believe that, in the near future, when we conduct this research again, we can get a better result with a higher difference between volunteer and non-volunteer More and more students will recognize the great impact of voluntary activities on them as well as the society We will encourage people around us to take part in more voluntary organizations, and make the volunteering becomes the daily hobby, not the recommended scheme Reasons for not taking part in voluntary activities Chart Reasons for not taking part in voluntary activities 16 16 This pie chart clarifies the reasons of non-volunteers for not taking part in voluntary activities According to the given data, “busy with studying and other things” and “have no information of voluntary activities” accounted for the majority of listed causes, while “have no interesting projects” and “other reasons” share the same spot for the least answered reason In detail, there is 31% of people were busy with studying and other things together with not having information of voluntary activities 23% of people felt that voluntary projects gave them no benefits 7% of people did not join any voluntary activities due to parents’ prevention There were only “not finding any interesting projects” and “other reasons”, both accounting for 4% respectively Parents’ opinions about volunteering Chart Parents’ opinions about volunteering The pie chart indicates students’ parents’ opinion about voluntary activities Generally, most of parents’ attitudes to voluntary activities are neutral and beyond “Neutral” seizes up to 35%, both “satisfied” and “very satisfied” account for 24% Just about 11% of parents are dissatisfied of voluntary activities and only 6% are very dissatisfied Volunteering is social activities and it brings many advantages to people so that parents’ positive attitudes are understandable Most of parents’ opinions are positive, this is the basement for voluntary activities to develop and widely spread Positive parents think that these activities may motivate their sons and daughters to be active students and helpful citizens Participating in volunteering means people face to society, social problems, contact to many kinds of people so volunteers tends to be more knowledgeable, experienced than normal people Those advantages are the reason for 17 17 parents’ belief in students’ joining in these activities To the parents who have negative opinions, voluntary activities seem to be unattractive Volunteering is not paid in any forms so that it is time wasting to take part in This thought is true in some ways, helping other people is give them your time, your effort and maybe your health In order to gain more positive opinions from people, voluntary activities should well the task of marketing Students’ frequency of volunteering Chart Students’ frequency of volunteering The pie chart describes the frequency of volunteering of students There are 22% of students arrange their time to take part in voluntary activities every month As is presented in the pie chart, with 39% answers are “every year”, many students don’t want to spend too much time for voluntary activities, while 25% of students enjoy these activities and join them every week Eventually, 14% of them love and they can it every day It can be seen that these students are very aggressive; they took part in voluntary activities while they were studying in high school Although they faced up to the university entrance examination, they still spend time to some useful works With an advantageous environment for voluntaries activities in National Economics University, there is an affirmative that they can improve themselves and will become true volunteers The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities at National Economic University Chart The numbers of students have joined voluntary activities at National Economic University The pie chart indicates students who have joined National Economics University’s voluntary activities or not Because of some reasons, up to 54% of students haven’t been National Economics University’s volunteer, but 46% of them have already taken part in voluntary activities at National Economics University Nearly half of these students took 18 18 part in National Economics University’s voluntary activities while they were studying in high school and it demonstrates that volunteer movement in National Economics University is very eventful Not only National Economics University’s students but also dose it attract many students come from different schools, universities, … For the purpose of that, there will be more and more students taking part in National Economics University’s voluntary activities What is the best benefit that you gained from taking part in National Economics University’s voluntary activities? Chart Best benefit you gained from National Economics University’s voluntary activities Further to the most important information, we also made a question of “which is the best benefit you gained from your voluntary activities” Most of them said that they gained many benefits from volunteering and they were not able to define which is the best, thus we told them to focus on their purpose at the very first moment they decided to join volunteer and after that which part inside them was increase most The result is 41% of volunteers believe that they have more chances to learn and improve many useful skills for their life such as communicating or team working skills… 17.5% of them is getting more confident after they took part in social activities and this figure is equal to the ones who think that voluntary activities help them expand social relationships 12% of the people who were asked answered that they got more experiences in solving problems, thinking creatively and how to be outstanding among the crowd as joining voluntary activities Finally, only 6% of volunteer think that being a volunteer give them more 19 19 opportunities to get a good job in the future and the same amount of people have life satisfaction and mental health contributed after joining volunteer Students’ comments on National Economics University’s voluntary activities? Chart Students’ comments on National Economic University’s voluntary activities This bar chart shows students’ attitudes to voluntary activities in National Economics University Not mention those who have no opinion, most of students who represent 34.5% strongly disagree that these activities are eventful The number of students who agree that these activities are useful, well organized, effective, attractive are 27.6%, 17.2%, 31%, and 27.6% respectively Comments of students about this problem is variable, it means people’s awareness of voluntary activities are different from each other’s Student is the main force to take part in voluntary activities, their comments are the most practical opinions Youngsters need activities that are entertaining, active, joined by many people To add these factors into voluntary activities, organizers should well at marketing their event, showing that they put much of their enthusiasm on the activities Volunteering is now widely spread among students, it is not so long to wait for a voluntary activities Students should also find information of activities and make a choice of which to participate in Human is the main solution to most of problems, it also true with volunteering By attracting more people, those activities will advance their quality and scale III Solutions to mentioned problems 10 Key solutions to problems Chart 10 Some key solutions to problems This pie chart shows students’ opinion about the key solution for voluntary activities in National Economics University’s problem 40% of students think that Human 20 20 is the main factor to solve this problem Other students think that society, which takes over 31%, is the key solution 26% of students think that this problem should be solved with financial solution There’s some other solution, but the number of students choose those solutions are very few, about 3% Human seems to be the best solution to solve the problems When an event is held, the number and quality of organizers will decide the success level of that event The problem of society belongs to the responsibility of marketing By showing people how helpful, efficient, meaningful your activities are, the society will have a positive vision on them and support you to develop them Finance is always the fundamental basement for every event Although it is important, the factor that decides the amount of money is inviting sponsors belonging to the human problem If human problem is solved, all other problems are solved as well A training course is necessary for this requirement Students are now more and more active and enthusiastic; their skills will contribute remarkably in the voluntary activities Chapter Conclusion Summary The research was conducted among the intake 57 students at National Economics University in order to recognize the real situation of taking part in voluntary activities and some solutions to the existed problems Through the traditional method that is handling the questionnaires, the research has reached the final result, which may be helpful with voluntary organizers Theoretical implications The trend of voluntary activities is now developing along with the development of students’ demand to take part in social events People should have objective opinions and practical vision on this tendency To the whole society, this survey shows the level of development, widespread level of voluntary activities Actually, volunteering is now a form of activities that youngsters take part in to communicate and show their ability To students, they can look at the people comments on volunteering to control their time for activities Besides, they can make a choice of which kind of voluntary activities they are suitable to join in To 21 21 organizers, they can use the result of this survey to gain experience and give the relevant solutions to some problems of organizing Generally, this survey is the overview of voluntary trend and the assessments for some involved aspects Limitations of the study Despite the facts that our group has tried our best in terms of carrying out the research and interpreting the received information, there still exist some limitations besides valuable results To begin with, owing to the matter of time, the research does not cover all of the freshmen in the National Economics University , which proves to be not so objective The gathered numbers are not the genuine reflections of voluntary activities, but generally speaking, it can be used depending on particular circumstances Another downside is that the approaches to other works concerning the same matter are not proper because of the lacks of time and information Therefore, a complete and detailed comparison between National Economic University’s students and those in other universities on the ground of voluntary work is out of the question To the next point, we choose to give handouts to students rather than interviewing them or collecting online answers by Google docs Although this method is time-saving, the information is sometimes distorted as the students might it carelessly or they are scared of their secrets being published It is not to mention the fact that people can freely express their ideas by being interviewed, which can bring about a bigger diversity of answers compared to giving handouts Suggestions for further research With the 37 responses of first-year student in National Economics University, some informations in the research are still not objective and not accurate Moreover, the targets are just only National Economics University’s first-year students, which is another disadvantage of the research Thus, to impove the results, further research should be extended the targets to other universities and applied opinions from older students, who 22 22 have joined voluntary activities in National Economics University because of their experience REFERENCE WIKIPEDIA Volunteering [Online] Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteering#Etymology_and_history [Accessed: 9th October 2015] WIKIPEDIA Volunteering [Online] Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteering#Types [Accessed: 9th October 2015] ROBERT, JR., KIMBERLY, S., and NATHAN, D., The Health Benefits Of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research, MARY, M., Ten Professional Development Benefits of Volunteering (Everything I Learned in Life I Learned through Volunteering), JOHN, B., and MINNA R., (2011) Exploring Impacts of Volunteering on University Students in London SARAH, V., (2015) 2015 Best Volunteer Abroad Programs, Organizations, & Projects Volunteer Forever [Online] 22nd January Available from: https://www.volunteerforever.com/ [Accessed: 8th October 2015] 23 23 APPENDIX Where are you from? a Hanoi b Other rural cities c Other urban cities Who you live with? a Parents b Friends c Relatives CD d Alone Have you ever joined any voluntary activities? a Yes b No If not, what are your reasons for not taking part in these voluntary activities? (You can choose more than one choice) a Busy with studying and other things b Have no information of voluntary activities c Gain no benefits d Your parents’ prevention e Have no any interesting projects f Other reasons (please write it below): ……………………………………………… 24 24 If yes, how often you take part in these activities? a Daily b Every week c Every month d Every year What are your parents' opinions? a Very satisfied b Satisfied c Neutral d Dissatisfied e Very dissatisfied Have you ever joined any voluntary activities at National Economics University? a Yes b No What is the best benefit that you gained from taking part in National Economics University’s voluntary activities? a Learn and improve many useful skills b Make new friends and expand your social network c Improve job opportunities d Get experiences e Gain confidence f Contribute to life satisfaction and mental health If yes, based on your past experience, what you think about problems in National Economic University's voluntary activities? (The answer ranges from: Strongly disagree | Disagree | No opinion | Agree | Strongly agree) 25 25 a Eventful b Useful c Well organized d Effective e Attractive to participants f Other opinions: (please write it below) 10 Which sort of solution is the key to this problem? a Human b Finance c Society d Other Thank you! 26 26