The Support Service of University of Pécs has voluntary projects in each academic year.
This page contains all of the data that is available on EVS database. We are accreditated Organisation on EVS database. Our PIC no: 999889872.
Spirits in Support Service
Background and Experience
The University of Pécs is an internationally renowned institution, where a large number of foreign students and teachers can spend shorter or longer period. Our Department - the Support Servic for students with disabilities –seeks to contribute to the disadvantaged young people to be able to fulfil their studies successfully, in order to reach the level of equal opportunities in the society.
The University of Pécs was the first in Hungary to establish a support service in order to facilitate the everyday life of disabled students and lecturers (e.g. having dyslexia, dyscalculia, physical disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment, etc.). Our services are free for registered students and university employees.
As a hosting organisation we are motivated to host volunteers, especially foreigner volunteers because of the social nature of our service and also the growing international, intercultural nature of the University. Volunteers could contribute to develop the quality of care for Hungarian students and make the service more colourful and exciting. In addition, throughout these exchange programs the participants would have the opportunity to learn from each other also while using their foreign language skills.
As a sender organisation we find it important to open the world for students with disabilities in the framework of EVS to obtain relevant work experience, to enrich their intercultural experiences. This way they will be able to integrate in the labour market in an easier manner.
Several volunteers work with us who have a great interest in getting international experiences in any ways. In order to increase the international relationship and experience of our university and department it would be a great chance for us to send volunteers who could represent our values and working methods abroad gained working with us. After coming home we can learn new things from them obtained during the voluntary service. Meanwhile they could be our ‘”ambassadors” to build new useful vocational relationships.
Relevant activities and experience
Our organisation has many volunteers among students of the university helping to their mates with disabilities. Realising the need of hardly reachable international experience and language knowledge of our target group having disadvantages we applied for the first European volunteer at the last round of YIA program. Our first volunteer arrived at the beginning of February 2014. All together we had four volunteers. They were / are active in helping in every role of our work. We were very satisfied with their presence and our students are happy with their company.
Human resources of Suport Service
Seven people work in the service. We have two drivers whose duty is to provide the transport for the students between their home and the university. We have two personal helpers, whose tasks are administration, facilitating learning and helping in daily life. One of them is a mental health specialist; the other personnel’s tasks are more oriented to the field of administration. We have two colleuges with changed working abilities. One of them is disabled who is administrator, program manager and keeps contacts with NGOs in the city. The other one also does personal help , administration and learning support.
The head of the department, besides managing the office, represents the interest of the disabled students in the university. He is also responsible for the EVS project. He was volunteer himself abroad and also used to work as Youth in Action program (the Erasmus Plus Youth subaction was called like this previously) promoter.
Please find below the Facebook site of our service: https://www.facebook.com/tamogatoszolgalat?fref=ts
Volunteers of our service
Practical Arrengements
In a hosting project the University of Pécs leads the whole EVS project from the first contact with the Volunteer to his/her return. It organises the application process as well as the arrival at the Hosting Organisation. It reimburses the travel fees up to the amount given by the grant. According to its inner roles it tries to organise to get the visa if needed and the travel between the home of the volunteer and Pécs by the contribution of procuremented travel agency. In the case of the travel agency not able to organise any of the above mentioned things its right and duty goes back to the Sending Organisation and the Volunteer. In this case the travel fees also will be reimbursed from the grant by the given tickets and invoices addressed to the Hosting Organisation. It organises the transport between the airport and the Hosting Organisation and back. Helps to organise the travel home and ensures that the Volunteer has all the tickets and documentations he/she needs for the trip. Responsible for the pedagogical support in addition to the seminars provided by the National Agency and will keep a close contact to the Sending Organisation. Supports the Volunteer by integrating into the local community and provides a mentor during the complete EVS. The mentor is outside of the organisation and is responsible for the personal support of the Volunteer.The Hosting Organisation provides board and lodging following the programme rules. It offers help in minor conflicts and calls for the Sending Organisation if the conflicts threatening to get bigger. It is always willing to find the solution with the aim to continue the service. It provides care of practical arrangements like language class, pocket money etc. The Hosting Organisation will author the final report and will be responsible for the evaluation process during and after the project.
Working hours: 5x7 hours/week
2 days off per week on weekends.
Holidays: 2 days off per month, holidays can be 20 days for the whole project by common agreement.
Food: Meal-ticket will be provided for lunch to each days of the month (weekends included). For remaining meals additive amount will be payed to the Volunteer.
Pocket money: 5 euros/day in cash at the beginning of the month.
Accommodation: provided in one of the dormitories of the Hosting Organisation. The Volunteer will have a guest room on his/her own. The room has internet access, shared bathroom, kitchen.
Travelling in the city: A monthly ticket will be provided to the local transport service (bus) and he/she also gets a bike.
The accommodation, the monthly ticket, the food and the pocket money will be payed from the grant by the Hosting Organisation, and the bike will be provided by the Hosting Organisation.
Project Context
“Pécs, European Capital of Culture in 2010 and the fifth largest city in Hungary with a population of about 180,000 is a real Mediterranean beauty. It is situated in South Transdanubia, close to the borders with Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Austria. The city at the foothills of the Mecsek Mountains has a mild, sub-Mediterranean climate. Its history goes back over 2,000 years to the Roman times. The downtown of Pécs is a unique mixture of the relics of Early Christianity (part of the World Cultural Heritage), the arrival of the Hungarians and the foundation of the first Hungarian state with its ecclesiastic institutions, the Ottoman-Turkish Empire and the achievements of modern architecture and arts with specimens of Art Nouveau and Bauhaus.” (http://expandingeurope.pte.hu/menu/30)
“Pécs always was a multicultural city where many cultural layers are encrusted melting different values of the history of two thousand years.Hungarians,Croatians and Swabians still live in peace together in economic and cultural polarity”
“Located in the midst of an agricultural area, Pécs is the natural hub of local products. Until some years ago, it had a coal mine and even a Uranium mine. Several factories exist, but after the fall of the Iron Curtain many have not managed the transition well. Pécs has a nationally (and to a limited extent internationally) famous porcelain factory. The Zsolnay Porcelain has a special iridescent finish — called "eozin". The Pécsi Sörfőzde (Pécs Brewery) is one of the four main Hungarian breweries, and produces a special beer, which is not strained before bottling. Pécs is also known for its leatherworking industry.
The University of Pécs was founded by Louis I of Hungary in 1367. It is the oldest university in Hungary, and is among the first European universities. In the recent past it used to be divided in two universities, one for Medicine and Orthodontics (POTE) ([1]) and a larger one for other studies: JPTE (Janus Pannonius Tudományegyetem). The POTE (Pécs University Medical School, now known as the Medical School) has a large English program for general medicine and dentistry (with students from America, Asia, Africa and European countries - including many Scandinavians) and a new German program. On January 1, 2000 these universities were combined under the name University of Pécs (acronym: PTE - Pécsi Tudományegyetem - University of Pécs).” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9cs)
Many cultural events, festivals, concerts are organised here in the city of Pécs. There are lots of facilities to do sports as well. There are good places for excursions surrounding of Pécs (Mecsek mountains, castles ,wine-routes, the lakes of Orfű, etc.).
The university itself is a good place to find sport and cultural possibilities. Lots of events, trainings and sport activities are cheaper for the citizens of the university. (http://english.pte.hu/menu/56/22).
There are several EVS hosting organisations in Pécs so the volunteer can meet volunteers from other countries.
Our service is at the building of the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (Building “A”) at the gound floor. It is easily reachable from the main reception, but the accessible way is not so much longer. Our office is fully accessable. We have a common room where the service is available and where the desks of the personal helpers are. We have five computers here too that are free for the disabled students. There are two smaller rooms. One of them is the heads office that is also the meeting room. Other one is the office of two colleagues that is also a room for consultation and rest. We have a small kitchen, and a toilet fit for disableds.
The university has twelve education buildings but aprox only the half of them where our students attend. Besides there are seven dormitories (two runned by church) where our students possibly live.
We have a transport service by a mini bus equipped with a special lift for wheelchair users.
Proposed Activities
The main activities of the project will take place in the main building of the university where the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Science are located.
Our Mission is to help students as much as they really need. This is how we assist, stimulate them to step on and on and aspire towards an independent live.
The volunteers contruibute to cultural and intercultural learning of our disabled students through helping, supporting and studying with them. We would like if the volunteer would show and share a part of her/his own culture and personality to the students, so the student will have the opportunity to get an inside view of the European dimensions.
The volunteer can get to know the work of our support service. During this time he/she can exercise soft skills as tolerance and patience. She/he will gain experience and knowledge in types of disabilities, people’s life with special needs, different treatment of injured people, how to use special equipments. Besides he/she will learn Hungarian and gets to know our culture.
We are going to pay attention to her/his learning aims and try to be aware of the process of gaining experience that leads to the meaningful youth pass.
The volunteer will help in every aspect of our service. He/she will be an additional help to enrich our service with his/her new energy, approach, culture. Beside her/his every day routine he/she will be encouradged to organise his/her own iniciatives, projects.
Activities the volunteer takes part in:
- Accompany to the students with reduced mobility, wheelchaired or visually impaired. Helping them to get from their home, or dormitory to the university and back, sometimes lead them among classrooms.
- Domestic work at disabled students accomodation.
- Shopping for/with them.
- Office works like copying, scanning, printing, etc…
- Helping to study if the volunteer is on that level (of language, or the needed subject).
- Teaching language in clubs or/and in pair.
- Helping for foreign students.
- Helping for Hungarian students in their studies held in English.
- Organising leasure activities, like walks, going to clubs, etc.
Linguistic training course of Hungarian language (probably at the University of Pécs) will be provided by specialized teachers.
Our service has contacts with several organisations on the field of disability in the city that can be useful if the volunteer wants to learn more about the topic. There are services for them, and there is an NGO – “People First “- that is a kind of self-organised body of disabled people of the city which organises events for their own purpose, for non-disabled people.
There are more services in the university that can be useful like Carrier Office for trainings and planning and preparing to the carrier, and the Erasmus office for planning further studies. Several foreigner students attend our university. There is service available for them as well. Our volunteer can join to their events.
His/her English knowledge will improve beside he/she will study Hungarian language as well. He/She will gain practice in teaching English and her/his own language. He/She is able to attend some courses of her/his interest held in English or Hungarian in the University.
He/She is going to get experiences in projectmanagement during organising common or her/his own project. He/she needs to form her/his ability of self reflection and giving feedback.
In the perspectives of key competencies:
- Communication in foreign languages (English, Hungarian) during the interactions with Hungarian students with special needs, colleuges and also with Erasmus students coming from other countries
- Digital competence during communication about programs on social media
- Learning to learn on formal, nonformal and informal ways (Hungarian language in school and Hungarian community; teaching language for students having low level of knowledge; leading language clubs; competencies given by the trainings of the National Agency; raising awareness of processes, knowledges and experiences by the consultations with the mentor).
- Social and civic competences during the interaction among the targetgroup and its surroundings while supporting them.
Background of the volunteer
We are expecting volunteers who are empatic, communicative, open and have a cheerful habit. Preference is given to volunteers who have previous studies and experience in social field or physioterapy.
We share our advertisement through Eurodesk, Facebook, Linked In pages. We ask the applicants to send their CV-s and motivation letters. We make a prefiltration by the sent documents and choose the ones who mostly fit to our project. Then we ask the aplicants to have an online interwiew where we introduse the service concentrating about the difficoulties and the benefits of being a volunteer at us. They also introduse themselfes and we can talk about their motivation that was writen by them. We can clerify obscure issues as well. She/he will have a chanche to talk to our recent and previous volunters no mather they had good or bad experiences with us and also the mentor to gain a clear picture of the working environment in the Suport Service and the other possibilities that the international nature of the university and the city provides. If they still want to came we will make a final selection by the help of wiewpoints with all the colleuges and the recenet volunteer. We inform all the applicants about the outcome of the selection.
Risk Prevention, Protection and Safety
Working place: Our working environment is absolutely accessible. This is why we can tell the offices are safe. However the volunteers need to work outside the office several times, like walking in the city , giving supportive company to our students, or travelling with the driver… These activities are as safe as walking and driving elsewhere.
Healthcare: We ask the volunteers to bring their European Health Insurance Card, because it is used more often in Hungary then the one provided by the Erasmus plus program. The mentor will accompany the volunteers in case of health problems. We already have well established contacts with many English speaking doctors, because we have experience in visiting them with our students. The volunteer will enjoy the same attention as our students do in the case of health problems. The sending organisation will be asked to activate the insurance for the volunteers.
A mentor will be provided for the whole length of the project. She has been involved in our previous projects and she works in a departure of the university where she handles the cases of forigner students so she has experience with the problems of incoming youth. She's participated in international training about mentoring and she always takes part in the on arriving trainings organised by the National Agency. She will be available especially to help to integrate at the beginning of the project and whenever the volunteer needs it. They have regular meeting where they can talk about the volunteers tasks and projects. The volunteer can reflect on her/his work, she/he can share her oppinion, point of wiew, end experiences coping with the situations they go through. She helps in clearyfying the learning aims at the beginig of the project and they can reflect on the process during. The mentor will support the volunteer in writing the youthpass.
We offer help in minor conflicts and call for the Sending Organisation if the conflicts threatening to get bigger. We are always willing to find the soultion with the aim to continue the service. The mentor is outside of our service that can prove the independent attitude of her. She is experienced problem solver so she can collaborate as a mediator or a consultant for the partners.
Watch this promo video made by our ex volunteers. Edited by Sara.
Contact:
Mr. Csaba Magdali
Support Service
University Of Pécs
7622 Pécs,
Vasvári Pál u. 4.
E-mail: magdali.csaba@pte.hu
Phone: +3672/501-500/24015