Making a Difference in the Community
The University has developed a strong relationship with local community organisations through the work of Warwick Volunteers, student-managed events open to the public, schools engagement initiatives, and through further activities developed by the Communications Office.
- Warwick Volunteers
- Student Events for the Community
- The Inspire Project
- Schools Engagement
- Building Relationships with the Local Community
Warwick Volunteers
Warwick Volunteers provides opportunities for students and staff at the University to volunteer in a variety of roles within the local community. It is the link between the University and the many projects around Coventry and Warwickshire that are supported throughout the year, and it also gives students the opportunity to develop new skills. There are well over 2,000 students registered as members of Warwick Volunteers and the figures increase year on year. Activities range from working with children in schools and youth clubs; undertaking mural painting and conservation work; running activities for older people; and providing support to refugees and people who are homeless.
Considerable efforts are made to develop volunteering activities in areas where students live, primarily in the region of Leamington Spa and the southern parts of Coventry. This not only ensures ease of accessibility to volunteering, but also has a considerable contribution to make towards building positive relationships between students and their adopted communities.
Warwick Volunteers works closely with local schools, charities and community groups to develop volunteering activities that make best use of volunteers’ interests, and the Share Your Passion project supports student societies and sports clubs in their volunteering activities in local schools and youth groups. Society run activities include Streetvibe’s dance classes for a local club for people with disabilities; the Craft Society’s sessions at a club for older people; and the Spanish, Chinese and Japanese societies organising cultural workshops as part of a language day on campus for local schools.
The Volunteering in Schools programme places up to 300 students each year in activities including one-to-one reading support; subject-specific classroom support; mentoring for young people considering higher education; after-school activity and study support clubs; and international students providing support to newly-arrived pupils in their native language.
Students are also engaged with subject-based volunteering, utilising their knowledge and skills in the community. This includes the Law Society’s pro-bono group, who support local advice centres and run legal-awareness workshops in local schools. Engineers without Borders introduce young people to the practical applications of engineering, running workshops on issues such as providing clean water and shelter in developing countries following a natural disaster. Also, computer science students have introduced children to Scratch, an interactive computer-programming tool specifically designed for primary-school aged children.
Student Events for the Community
Students at the University of Warwick become involved in many self-managed events on campus, which are also open to the local community. The most significant of these is One World Week, the world's largest student run international event, which offers an array of interactive entertainment ranging from discussions, performances, sports tournaments and music.
One World Week has grown considerably since it began as a one-day event in 1995. It draws more than 20,000 participants each year with the aim of celebrating the world’s diversity, and students at the University of Warwick have the opportunity to become involved in more than 140 different events. It is a self-funded, non-profit initiative, which highlights different regions of the world on each day.
Each summer, Warwick Student Arts Festival takes place on central campus, dedicated to showcasing and celebrating all aspects of student arts. A programme of over 100 events spans the artistic spectrum from rock to jazz, modern dance to salsa, Shakespeare to musical theatre, and modern art to photography. Over 70 student societies take part with many performances given by individuals and small groups.
In 2010 a family day was launched for the first time, as an additional component of the Arts Festival, designed to celebrate the relationship between the University and the wider community. The day featured a range of free student and community-led events including theatrical productions, arts and crafts workshops, and a variety of musical performances.
Students at the University also engage in a range of outreach activity. In 2011 a group of students from the School of Theatre Studies performed and provided drama workshops in HMP Drake Hall, a women’s prison in Stafford. The performance was based on prior interviews with the prisoners and was described by a prison official as “very innovative, and an emotional roller-coaster”.
The Inspire Project
Inspire was set up in 2009 as a joint venture between the Students’ Union and Teach First. The project takes Warwick students into Teach First Schools - schools with high percentages of children on free school meals - in the Birmingham area to run workshops that inspire the children to think about applying to higher education and planning for their future.
In 2011 the project expanded into the Leamington Spa and Coventry areas for the first time, with Inspire becoming a year round project in the 2011-2012 academic year, involving many more students and children.
Inspire has proved to be rewarding for both the students and children involved. For students it provides experience of working with children while helping to give something back to the community. For the children – many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds - it raises their aspirations in terms of thinking about University when many may not have considered this as an option before.
Schools Engagement
In addition to school’s engagement initiatives developed through widening participation; the Warwick Institute of Education; and the Centre for lifelong learning, a number of academic departments within the University have developed close working relationships with primary and secondary schools in Coventry and Warwickshire. This includes the Chemistry Department, who develop teacher training, practical laboratory sessions, workshops, tutorials, demonstration lectures, tours of the Department, and careers events. In 2009-10 this activity reached 1386 primary school children, 2123 secondary school pupils and 15 teachers. The Maths Institute also work closely with local schools on teaching, revision support and CPD initiatives, and the Physics Department work with students age 8 to 18, on sessions both at the University and in the classroom.
The Language Centre works with around 20 Coventry and Warwickshire schools and in 2010-11 the Centre took language road show events to four schools in the area. The success of its work has resulted in a number of schools now running their own Language and Careers events for their students. In addition, the Institute of Education regularly work with over 300 schools in the region on outreach projects.
The University has an ongoing and wide-ranging working relationship with its nearest secondary school, Westwood, to help improve community cohesion in the Canley and Tile Hill areas of Coventry, as part of the Westwood Community Cohesion Project. This project was launched by Westwood School in 2008, with the aim of bringing the school closer to the University and local businesses. As well as developing good community relations, potential projects are regularly explored that engage both the school and the University. This included participation in the 2010 Takeover Day, when a group of pupils from the school met the University’s Registrar and the Student’s Union Chief Executive to find out more about life as a student at the University, as well as regular involvement in the University’s annual Volunteering Fair and One World Week.
The University’s engagement with Trust Schools is extensive and includes visits by the schools’ students to academic departments at the University; visits by University academics to the Trust Schools; professional development provision at WIE; involvement in the Warwick Young Researchers Programme; reciprocal involvement in events held at the University and at the Trust Schools; and workshops on the development of pedagogy. Relationships have been developed with the following schools: Barr’s Hill School and Community College, Coventry; Kenilworth School and Sports College, Kenilworth; Kingsley College, Redditch; Westwood School, Coventry; Woodrush Community High School, Wythall; and Pudsey Grangefield Maths and Computing College, Leeds.
Building Relationships with the Local Community
The University of Warwick is committed to a meaningful and constructive engagement with its many regional and community stakeholders - both people and organisations - who have an interest in the University or are affected by it in some way. These include local residents who live near the campus, community groups, schools and colleges, local authority members and officers, regional and sub-regional bodies, locally-based alumni, and local and regional companies.
As part of its ‘good neighbour’ programme, the University actively participates in several local strategic partnerships (LSPs), such as the Coventry Partnership and Warwickshire Together, and the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, and it is a partner in several NHS bodies. The University also has regular liaison meetings with its local authorities, and is a member of several regional and sub-regional organisations, including the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce; CBI West Midlands; Marketing Birmingham; and the Coventry Ambassadors’ Group.
A number of communications programmes are developed to keep local stakeholders informed and to enable them to contribute their own views on University activities. The ‘Community and Regional Engagement’ section of the University website contains information on community engagement programmes and features regularly updated news of specific interest to the local and regional community. It also contains information on how the University contributes to the wider economic, cultural and social fabric of the area. In addition, ‘CommUnity’ is a newsletter containing useful information on what is happening at the University and highlights forthcoming events. It is regularly distributed to around 5,000 local residents and other stakeholders within the sub-region.
The University also co-ordinates a number of campus events throughout the year to engage with its regional and community stakeholders. They include the popular annual Festive Reception, hosted by the Vice-Chancellor for around 200 guests, including council members and officers, representatives of partnership bodies, community groups and local residents. In addition, civic representatives are invited to the summer and winter Graduation Ceremonies held on campus.
