FLY programme promotes volunteering through student exchanges
Four foreign students, three Spanish and one Slovak, were in Portugal. One Portuguese student, from the Psychology Degree programme of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, was in Spain. All of them participated, through the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in FLY, a European volunteering and service-learning programme.
Between 3 and 14 July, the foreign students who were in Porto volunteered at the António Cândido Centre, a host home, where they developed recreational activities, such as a pedagogical kitchen, in addition to providing various leisure moments: surf lessons, a visit to the chocolate museum, beach and boat trips. These activities aimed to bring students closer to different realities and contexts and to raise awareness of the personal development of children and adolescents hosted in this institution.
As part of the FLY project, Mafalda Sá, a student of the Psychology Degree of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, had the opportunity to travel to Bilbao, Spain, to collaborate in playful activities with children and adolescents. There were several activities that promoted the socio-emotional development and literacy of these young people.
"I really wanted to participate in this initiative because it is a different culture and because I can make a difference", emphasises Mafalda Sá. Enthusiastic about her experience in Bilbao, the student confesses that this experience allowed her to understand other cultures and other contexts relevant to her academic career, especially within the scope of the Degree in Psychology.
The FLY project is an initiative that aims to promote exchange and learning experiences in the field, giving students from different European universities the opportunity to participate in solidarity projects.
Coordinated by the University of Comillas (Madrid), the FLY 2023 programme brings together, in addition to the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, the Universities of Deusto (Bilbao), ESADE (Barcelona), Loyola (Andalusia), LUMSA (Rome, Italy) and Mateja Bela (Banská Bystrica, Slovakia). Each of the institutions involved presents volunteering and/or service-learning projects in the home country, with the possibility of hosting students as well as sending students to projects in other partner universities.