It was an important stage in the implementation of the small-scale project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, since according to the project’s concept, project partners are intend to supplement their knowledge acquired during theoretical and best practice research, with practical experiences in field of volunteer management, which will suit the habits and needs of the generation Z students, as future volunteers. After the domestic event of MEFOB Festival in May, the volunteers of the project were able to try themselves in an international environment this time.
The European Universities Games 2022, representing the largest multi-sport event in Europe this year, were organised in Łodz (Poland) under the licence of the European University Sports Association (EUSA) by the Łodz University of Technology, University Sports Association of Poland (AZS) and City of Łodz, in cooperation with the EUSA Institute and several partners. Between 14 – 31 July 2022, over 6000 people were directly engaged in the event, recording 4459 participants, representing 422 universities from 38 countries. The European Universities Games target athletes enrolled in higher education studies in Europe, and this year’s edition of the Games offered them chance to compete in 20 sport disciplines. Over 800 volunteers also contributed to the success of the event.
As part of the K2S-GenZ project, project partners delegated the 10 involved volunteers to the EUG 2022. The involved students peformed their duties as members of the official volunteer team of the event, each of them participated in the event for different periods of time, completing 5-10 working days and a total of 355 working hours. In addition to having to stand up in an international environment and get to know the unique atmosphere of EUG and the European university sport, they performed responsible tasks in the areas of accreditation, transfer and information, accommodation and catering, protocol and educational events, media, sports, result management and venue management. The volunteers were assisted by a mentor throughout the organization of the trip and their stay in Poland.
Apart of the sports competitions, the Games offered a wide array of educational, cultural and social activities, including conference and roundtable on volunteering, where the concept and objectives of K2S-GenZ project was alos introduced to the audience.
As the next step of the project, the project members will proceed questionnaires and interviews to evaluate the experiences of the domestic and international event, the purpose of which is the compilation of a methodology and plan of a future project in filed of volunteer management.
The small-scale cooperation partnership project involves three organisations from two countries – Sports Club of Miskolc University (MEAFC) and Hungarian University Sports Federation (HUSF/MEFS) from Hungary and the EUSA Institute from Slovenia. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
