Royal Holloway Volunteering recently celebrated its 21st anniversary and is sector-leading within Higher Education, winning a Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’ in 2015, and The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for ‘helping build strong communities by inspiring our students to volunteer and lead projects to support local organisations’ in 2017.
The team nurtures partnerships with approximately 300 local, national and international organisations to support a volunteering culture at the University, in addition to student-led Social Action projects, Community Research, Sports Volunteering and Global opportunities. The University has made an #iwill pledge to enhance student skills and experience through their involvement in community volunteering, is an approved vInspired award provider, and in 2024 launched a Staff Volunteering Programme to augment the opportunities provided to students.
Royal Holloway Volunteering have a close collaborative partnership with Voluntary Support North Surrey, with whom they coordinate the annual Runnymede & Spelthorne Volunteer Awards – an intergenerational celebration of community action. In addition, registered community partners can be included in a number of events on campus, including the biennial Partners’ Conference or the Festival of Volunteering, or make use of the Volunteering Hub – a designated space for students, staff and community partners to collaborate.
