FLORICA STEFANESCU 1 CLAUDIA OSVAT 2 Present-day topics VOLUNTEER LANDMARKS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS FLORICA STEFANESCU 1 CLAUDIA OSVAT 2 Abstract The study addresses the issue of volunteering from the perspective of student participation in volunteer activities and the outcomes of such activities, in a faculty of social and human sciences. The paper is based on research literature and substantiates a research study among students of the aforementioned faculty. The conclusions summarize the results of the research and reflect the characteristics of student participation in volunteer activities, as well as the provisions necessary for the promotion of volunteer work among the youth. Key words: volunteering, students, activities, outcomes, provisions. Volunteering, concept, setting; a culture of volunteering Initially associated with religious traditions, charitable activities, predominantly in the social field, volunteering is found nowadays among diverse lay traditions and activities ranging from the social to the medium, from underprivileged to profitable environments. Areas with large numbers of volunteers are: culture, sports and leisure, education and research, health, social action, defending rights, interests, or conventions etc. From an organizational perspective, volunteer work is closely linked to the activity of NGOs. One could say that the "maximalist, welfare state" and volunteering are inversely correlated, in the sense that volunteering develops on the basis of a residual intervention by the state in social problems, this background favouring the development of NGOs. Edith Archambaut (2002) 3 explained that the ratio between the numbers of volunteers and employees across different fields of activity also depends on the interest and involvement displayed by the state in meeting needs of general interest to the population. Therefore, in fields such as education and education, the ratio between the number of volunteers and employees is lower, not due to the volunteers' lack of interest in these areas, but because on the one hand, the state has a major role, and on the other hand, because these fields require highly trained human resources. Volunteering has an important social-economic component, the range, structure and quality of volunteer actions varying according to the economic, social, cultural and political setting. There are differences between countries regarding the ratio of volunteers and employees, relating to both the range of the activities undertaken, and the distribution of such activities across fields. In developed countries such as the Scandic, the Anglo-Saxon or the Nordic countries, volunteer work is a widely spread activity, with around half of the population serving as volunteers 4 . In socialist countries, volunteering was affected by the communist ideology, taking on the shape of patriotic voluntary activities, mandatory for that matter and thus perceived as a nuisance by those involved. This is probably the reason why, after the changes in 1989, the culture of volunteering established itself more slowly in these countries, the collective memory holding on to former, so-called voluntary, displays. In addition, low thresholds of 1 University of Oradea Email 2 University of Oradea Email An. Inst.Cerc.Ec.„Gh. Zane”, t. 20, i.II, Iaşi, 2011, p.139-149 3 Archambault E. (2002), Le bénévolat en France et en Europe, Rapport de l’Unité mixte de recherche CNRSUniversité Paris I, n°8595. 4 Bazin C., Duros M. et Malet J. (2006), Le baromètre du bénévolat, Rapport édité par France Bénévolat