Skills & Awards

We have seven awards you can work towards. Start by creating a volunteering profile, logging your hours, and reflecting on the skills you have developed.

1. Create a volunteering profile.
2. Log your volunteering hours in your profile.
3. Complete the skills and review sections of your profile.
4. For the Gold Award and upwards, arrange a 10-minute presentation with a member of the Student Experience Team.
5. Receive your Volunteering Award.

Volunteering Awards can be provided to students for up to three years after they graduate. Awards are added to your HEAR once completed. Medical students and postgraduate students do not currently receive a HEAR.

To log your volunteer hours, register a profile. For each activity, state what you volunteered for, enter the correct number of hours, and add any relevant skills you gained.

Complete a personal review on your profile page as well as the relevant hours to gain award certification.

You need to provide the Student Experience Department with evidence of your volunteering activities. Without evidence, you cannot count your hours. Evidence can include:

• Minutes of committee meetings
• Contact details for someone who can verify your hours
• Photos of your event or activity, such as volunteering on a fundraising challenge

Keep these points in mind when logging your hours:

• If you are backdating your hours, the old system still applies. Please ask us for more details.
• If you are volunteering abroad, any fundraising you carry out for this can be counted.
• You can count travel time getting to your project, but not travel outside the UK.
• You cannot count volunteering required by your course, such as activity for which you receive academic credit.
• If you are an international student, there may be restrictions on the types of volunteering you can do. Contact the Volunteering Department for more information.