This year 12 Victoria University students will experience life in developing countries, on a Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) programme, now open to Victoria students. A new partnership between Victoria University and Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) means students studying global development get an opportunity to put theory into practice by becoming volunteers in developing countries.

The UniVol programme has been running in conjunction with Otago University for two years and has now been extended to Victoria University. Two Victoria students will go to Papua New Guinea and South Africa at the end of January as part of the programme. Alice Keeling will be working as a Special Needs Programme Assistant in Papua New Guinea and Anna Reid will be working in East London, South Africa as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.

Ms Keeling made sure she was one of the first to apply for the programme, as her mother was a teacher on assignment with VSA in 1966.

"It wasn't so much that mum was constantly telling me stories of her experiences, but I could see it was an opportunity that I wanted to take hold of," she says.

This is the third time the UniVol programme has included children of former VSA volunteers. For VSA's recruitment manager Carolyn Mark this mirrors the evolution of the organisation which has gone from sending school leavers in the '60s and '70s, to skilled professionalsand now the addition of young people with a development focus. "The communities we work with in the Pacific, Asia and Africa sometimes specify the need for youth-to-youth work. The UniVol programme means we have young people who understand the complexities of development who are keen to get field experience outside of their university study."

Like other VSA volunteers the students are covered for travel to and from assignment, initial and resettlement grants, accommodation and utilities, living allowance and insurance, plus they get their student loans interest free for the year of assignment. VSA selects the students for the programme and looks for commitment to development, skills to offer the organisations they work with, maturity, resilience and tenaciousness, with the ability to get involved in the community.

In total 12 UniVols will be heading off to Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, South Africa and Tanzania this year. They will be working on assignments that are youth focused including peer-to-peer education, environmental education, capacity building and sports coaching.

VSA research shows UniVols are valued by the partner organisations in developing countries as they contribute their flexibility, energy, enthusiasm and some of the skills they take for granted as university students (research, analysis, computer literacy, group work) to the communities they live in for the year.