The FLY, the European volunteering and service-learning programme, has just opened applications for all Universidade Católica students wishing to undertake an international volunteering experience. In total, there are more than 30 different projects in 14 countries.

The programme, which reinforces the commitment of the participating universities to sustainable development, aims - above all - to make university communities aware of the problems of migration, refugees and people at risk of social exclusion, and to highlight projects that care for people and the community.

"From this experience, I bring back very good memories, I bring back a little bit of each person I met."

Maria Barros, a student at the Universidade Católica, recalls her experience in the summer of 2023, in Bilbao (Spain): "I've always done voluntary work here [in Portugal] and this project came up to go further afield, to leave the country, and I decided to give it a try - why not?". She ended up working with children and young people in a local institution that wanted to energise its immigrant community. 

"From this experience, I bring back very good memories, I bring back a little bit of each person I was with," says Maria Barros, who planned and accompanied the children and young people in artistic and expression workshops. "They will always make a bit of a difference wherever they go and in the lives of the people they meet," she concludes.

João Souza, also a student at UCP in Porto and a participant in FLY 2022 in Kenya, says that "describing the experience will always be difficult". "I came into contact with a reality very different from anything I've ever experienced, but this difficult side doesn't compare to the great lessons I learnt in Nyumbani. I leave here transformed, grateful and with an enormous sense of fulfilment."

The FLY presentation will take place online on 15 February and in person and online on 19 February. The sessions are aimed at students from UCP's four campuses. 

Applications for the programme close on 26 February. The selected students will have to take part in inter-university training as well as meetings with the volunteer organisations. All the volunteers selected by the Universidade Católica Portuguesa will receive support for the expenses related to the training of their students, as well as a grant to support accommodation and food.

Coordinated by the Spanish Universities of Comillas (Madrid), Universidad de Deusto (Bilbao) and ESADE (Barcelona), FLY 2024 brings together, in addition to the Portuguese Catholic University, the Universities of Loyola (Andalusia, Spain), LUMSA (Rome, Italy) and Mateja Bela (Banská Bystrica, Slovakia) and IQS (Barcelona, Spain).  Each of these institutions is presenting volunteering and/or service-learning projects in their country of origin in order to receive and invite students from the partner universities in parallel.