Today, on the United Action Day "Kindness as a Norm of Life," Volga Region University launched the "Service Learning" educational program. Through this program, students and schoolchildren implement social projects to address real-world societal challenges as part of their studies. Non-profit organizations, businesses, and the government support the project development process. This allows students to apply their acquired knowledge in practice and hone their project-based skills. The program, which has been running since 2023, currently involves 514 universities and over 4,800 partners across the country.

Volga Region University was part of the first wave when the project was just launching. Over the past two years, we've gained diverse experience and observed positive trends. Participating in the project wasn't difficult for us, as volunteering has long been a core part of our university's culture. We have one of the strongest volunteer organizations.

The specialties you receive are all, in one way or another, related to helping others. These include adaptive physical education specialists, physical education teachers, and coaches. As the university's rector, Rafis Burganov, says, "A child gets to a coach before their first teacher." And when tourists arrive, tourism and hospitality professionals follow the natural instinct of a hospitable host to help and tell them about the most interesting things to see and do in the country and the region.

Therefore, I am confident, as your predecessors, the senior students, have confirmed, that there will be many interesting and, most importantly, useful projects that can be implemented not only within the curriculum but also in your future endeavors," emphasized Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Digital Transformation Adelya Pavlova, addressing the students during the introductory lecture.

Over the two years of the "Service-Learning" educational program at Volga Region University, student projects have repeatedly been recognized as among the best in Tatarstan. This year, under the guidance of Sergey Druzhkov, Director of the International Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism, and Artur Sakaev, Associate Professor of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines, first- and second-year students from the Institute of Sport, the Institute of Physical Education, and MIGMiT will demonstrate their skills in developing socially significant projects.

"We'll help you realize your ideas to the fullest and create something truly interesting and important. I'm confident that we'll once again be among the best student projects not only in the Republic of Tatarstan, but also in Russia. We have the experience—we know what to do, so we'll be there to help you in every way possible. Very exciting projects await us," Sergey Druzhkov told the students.

Text: Adelina Khramova
Photo: Pavel Zheleznyak