"A growing number of students at the University of Porto (U.Porto) join and take part in volunteering initiatives, from organisations based in the University's different Organic Units and in connection with the surrounding community.
Through its Volunteering Committee, U.Porto seeks to encourage and support initiatives in this field and to take on a more prominent role itself in order to encourage convergence, the sharing of objectives, the mobilisation of people and the activation of resources, creating partnerships that allow for the promotion of consequent activities that encourage the formation of aware, participative and responsible citizens, both individually and collectively. Aware that volunteering is a factor that favours positive changes in the world we live in, its aim is to encourage the U.Porto community to get involved in the interventions it carries out and to arouse interest in new areas of activity where volunteering can make sense. This is the case with the organisation of Volunteer Day at the University of Porto and the distinction of the University's Volunteers/Volunteering Associations through the award of the Volunteer Day Prize at the University of Porto. These initiatives aim to raise awareness, involve and encourage the participation of the entire academic and civil community in the importance of volunteering at the University of Porto.
This is what we intend to do in the future, expanding the scope of action and attracting other organisations, based on co-responsibility, sharing and joint efforts, with a view to contributing to finding more and better solutions to today's problems and challenges that concern us all.
If we take into account the importance of non-formal education in the training and development of young university students, in which extra-curricular activities have acquired significant weight, and the demands placed on higher education institutions in terms of social responsibility, we certainly have the necessary foundations, calling for the attention and actions of people and institutions, consistent with the values, principles and aims implied.
Voluntary organisations, the actions they have implemented and the experiences they have accumulated are an expression of their involvement and commitment, which should be valued and increased. As members of U.Porto, we can aspire to deepen a network of solidarity, broad and rooted in the academic community, committed to its surroundings, in which everyone takes an active part in favour of the common good. This is the humanist meaning of "homo social", which is (re)constructed, completed and realised in its relationship with others, with society and the world."
The Volunteering Committee of the University of Porto.