Question:
Discuss about the Policies regarding making voluntary services mandatory in the Universities of Abu Dhabi for the students.
The purpose of this report is to highlight the policies regarding making voluntary services mandatory in the Universities of Abu Dhabi for the students. In this context, it is also a matter of fact that the policies regarding this issue is applicable to the students who have enrolled in the government universities as well as private universities in Abu Dhabi.
The policies made are applicable to all the university students of Abu Dhabi with some exempted categories. The paper provides the required details in this context and explores how volunteering services by the students can be important for the educational organizations as well as for the community.
Policy 1:
This particular policy will be beneficiary for the students as well for the managing committee of the universities. If the students get a certificate from the recognized universities then only it would be counted that, that particular student has provided voluntary service to the university and then only judging by the certificate the management of the University would hand over the degree of graduation (Holdsworth & Brewis, 2014). By this way the clarity will be maintained.
Policy 2:
According to this policy, the organization where the students worked will evaluate the student’s performance and his or her determination and then only decide whether the student is eligible to acquire a certificate of voluntary service or not (Haddad, 2015). This policy is helpful because it would maintain the balance regarding the students who are eligible to get the degree or not.
Policy 3:
According to this policy the organizations where the students will give voluntary service will make sure that the students are attending and participating in a way that they become eligible to earn a certificate. This policy will help to maintain a harmony and also makes sure that no student is left behind.
Policy 4:
According to this policy, there will be a community service office where they will make sure that they will help the universities to measure the performance level of the students (Malouf, Selakovi? & Ljepava, 2016). This policy will ensure that all students are being monitored and their contribution for the universities is useful for the management.
Policy 5:
The policy 5 declares that there will be an officer in each community who will ensure that the students under his jurisdiction will find a suitable work for him that would serve the purpose of the university. Under this policy it is also mentioned that the concerned officer will make sure that each part of this particular system, like the universities, organizations and the students are proactively doing their part of work (Holdsworth & Brewis, 2014). Along with those it would be the duty of that officer to give proper feedback to the students, universities and the organizations.
It can be said that the policies that state that it is important that the students of the universities should provide a voluntary service to the community are beneficial for the students as well for the universities and for the communities. The volunteers are the major resources to help and support the academic and welcoming environment in the educational institutions. His highness of UAE understands that volunteer services of the students are an significant part of the education system as by this the students will face more real life situation before graduating and they will grow a vision regarding how to work successfully in the professional life (Malouf, Selakovi? & Ljepava, 2016). Apart from that, it can be said that, in most cases, the students go for providing voluntary services to help any organization or to gather real time experience in the field of work. It can be said that the majority of the students of Abu Dhabi University are generally motivated by the wish to improve their professional capabilities. The students of Universalities see the voluntary services like their first step of getting employed (Haddad, 2015). As providing voluntary services would help them to brush up their skills or to develop new skills. The student volunteers might provide major contribution to the business organizations along with to the community. From the students a fresh enthusiasm is found that can drive the existing employees to work more and this can potentially motivate the actual employees to enhance their work rate.
Currently there are various programs regarding environmental protection and areas of energy saving, where these days the volunteers actively take part and enhances the work rate. There are several instances in UAE, where the students participated in community recycling project. In these cases, the volunteers also get engaged in woodland planting, peat conservation and in carbon offsetting activities (Holdsworth & Brewis, 2014).
From the statistics, it is seen that nearly 80% of the students look at their mandatory volunteer services as a way of gaining work experience and the certificate they acquire from that particular organization, based on the remarks, the student might get better job opportunities. Over 60% of the graduates who has served in any business organization have stated that the certificates they got from those organizations, helped majorly to get good jobs later on, and apart from that those voluntary services made them ready to take challenges in real professional life (Malouf, Selakovi? & Ljepava, 2016).
While providing voluntary services, the students get an opportunity to meet new individuals and that widens their knowledge and makes them feel part of a community. Out of all the students, at least 70% of them experienced that these voluntary services helped them to develop intrapersonal skills they have gathered knowledge regarding many topics that have helped them to progress in their professional careers (Andersen, Heinesen & Pedersen, 2014). In this way the students will get access to the higher quality opportunities of volunteering and this way they will get the necessary support to grow more in their respective field of work in future.
His Highness of UAE understood that government; educational institutes and the non-profit organization must address the negative attitudes and try to increase the participation of the student population in volunteering. In this way the youths of the age group of 18 to 30 years old are generally targeted (Malouf, Selakovi? & Ljepava, 2016).
It can be said that young generation provide voluntary services as the major motivator is opportunity to get better job, but apart from that, they will be able to develop new skills that might help him or her in near future (Alzaghal & Momani, 2017). Voluntary services can enhance a student’s development regarding their academic field and they can have more scope regarding choosing the path of their career. Apart from that volunteering can help the students to build their civic responsibilities.
In UAE the volunteers contribute immensely in the educational sector as the schools and the universities are the most important areas to volunteer for the university and the school students. As education system is one of te most important focus for the making of policies by the government, everything cannot be implemented without the proactive services of the volunteers (Aljifri et al., 2014). As in this way the individuals who offers voluntary services also gets benefitted, the government of UAE has made it mandatory for the students of the universities of Abu Dhabi to volunteer at least 20 hours services at any organization in order to attain the degree of graduation.
It is seen that in UAE the student volunteers produced services worth almost 50 billion US dollars in academic, non-profit organization an in community works. This can be seen as an achievement and success of implementing such rules. Apr from only the monetary benefits, it can be seen that by this type of activities the students along with the communities benefit from the policies implemented by His Highness of UAE (Allen & Galiano, 2017). These student volunteers play the role of a bridge that connects the different parts of the society and most of the organizations reported that they experienced collaboration with government and other private sector.
The volunteers provide good services and public goods especially when those are not available due to scarcity in the market or due to the failure of the government. The volunteers actually fill the gaps in the supply chain of the services and the goods that are not available by the public sector providers or by the private concerns.
It can be said that the volunteers are the major resources to help to create a positive environment in the educational institutes and enhances the quality of performance and the behavior of the students. For an example, in an educational organization if the other students see that the adult volunteers are taking the education seriously under the academic environment, the other students also gets motivated to enhance their performance (Allen & Galiano, 2017). It can surely be said that the volunteers are the asset of any educational institutions as they can enhance the organization’s effort to support the teaching and learning process.
After implementing the policies made by his highness of UAE, there are numerous employee-based volunteer programs in various organizations and these programs can be seen as strategic assets and the organizations are merging these service volunteer programs into their own business strategies in order to strengthen the relationship with the workforce (Aljifri et al., 2014). There are instances where the individuals performed well as a volunteer and later got placed in that organization as an full time employee. These are the motivational factors of providing voluntary services.
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that the policies regarding providing the voluntary services for the university students becoming mandatory to graduate is an extraordinary step by the government of UAE as this initiative would serve multiple purposes. In tis way the students will get a better idea of the awaiting professional life and the experience of serving as a volunteer would definitely enhance their outer knowledge and would definitely help them to develop new professional skills and brush up the skills already acquired. It is seen that after implementing these policies there has been a significant improvement in the financial sector and the government and privately owned business organizations. This can be seen as a way to use huge unused human resources and along with that engaging the students for a greater cause enhancing their skills so that they can flourish in future using these experiences. It can also be said that due to these types of activities the students experience an enhanced sense of responsibility along with that an increased level of confidence can be seen among the students. Thus, in short, it can be said that implementing these new policies are an innovative idea that can surely make the nation progress rapidly with an increase in the productivity in all types of business sectors.
References
Aljifri, K., Alzarouni, A., Ng, C., & Tahir, M. I. (2014). The association between firm characteristics and corporate financial disclosures: evidence from UAE companies.
Allen, K., & Galiano, M. (2017). Corporate Volunteering in the Global South. In Perspectives on Volunteering (pp. 99-114). Springer International Publishing.
Alzaghal, M. H., & Momani, N. M. (2017). Emergency volunteering in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: current and future trends. International journal of emergency management, 13(2), 160-168.
Andersen, L. B., Heinesen, E., & Pedersen, L. H. (2014). How does public service motivation among teachers affect student performance in schools?. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(3), 651-671.
Flanagan, C., Gill, S., & Gallay, L. (2014). SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL TRUST IN ADOLESCEN CE: THE IMPORTANCE OF HETEROGENEOUS EN COUN TERS. Processes of community change and social action, 149.
Haddad, T. (2015). Volunteering in the Arab World: Bringing Back People into Politics?. Democracy and Security, 11(2), 145-159.
Holdsworth, C., & Brewis, G. (2014). Volunteering, choice and control: a case study of higher education student volunteering. Journal of Youth Studies, 17(2), 204-219.Abu Elanain, H. (2014). Leader-member exchange and intent to turnover: Testing a mediated-effects model in a high turnover work
Malouf, A., Selakovi?, M., & Ljepava, N. (2016). Exploring the Relationship Between Corporate Volunteering and Internal Communications in Multinational Organizations.
Osborne, S. P. (2013). Voluntary organizations and innovation in public services. Routledge.
Ross, L., van Leeuwen, R., Baldacchino, D., Giske, T., McSherry, W., Narayanasamy, A., … & Schep-Akkerman, A. (2014). Student nurses perceptions of spirituality and competence in delivering spiritual care: a European pilot study. Nurse Education Today, 34(5), 697-702.
Royse, D., Dhooper, S. S., & Rompf, E. L. (2016). Field instruction: A guide for social work students. Waveland Press.
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