International volunteering in countries implications for international students volunteering

-TU Ostrava. All rights reserved. ER-CEREI, Volume 25: 03 15 (2022). ISSN 1212-3951 (Print), 1805-9481 (Online) doi: 10.7327/cerei.2022.03.01 International volunteering in countries implications for international students volunteering a1 b aCollege of Polytechnics Jihlava, Tolst eho 1556, 586 01 Jihlava, Czech Republic. bFaculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Szeged, t 1, 6722 Szeged, Hungary. Abstract Volunteering has long been a question of great interest in the research field. In light of recent trends, such as increased emphasis on the internationalization of higher education, it is becoming extremely difficult to ignore the existence of people volunteering internationally. However, few studies have examined the possibilities of international students to volunteer. The objective of this current research is to determine and analyse the current projects available for potential volunteers in the Visegrad 4 (V4) countries at the European Solidarity Corps. This paper introduces initial results on the topic, while refraining from entailing the economic effects of volunteering. We found about 650 organizations from V4 countries registered in the European Youth Portal, offering, or hosting, almost 100 projects with volunteering opportunities for international volunteers. Available volunteer activities were enlisted and analysed manually to determine what organizations offer to whom, how and why. Results indicate that the volunteering infrastructure in V4 countries is at least partially ready for international students volunteering. Keywords volunteering, higher education, international students, internationalization, European Solidarity Corps JEL Classification: I23, L31, L33 1jakub[email protected] (corresponding author) 4 Central European Review of Economic Issues 25, 2022 International volunteering in Visegr d countries implications for international students volunteering 1. Introduction In the new global economy, volunteering has become an integral part of our societies. Volunteers are the additional labour resource, with the possibility and often motivation to address topics and problems that are not fully covered by the market mechanism. They perform various kinds of activities across the world. Volunteering has also become a central issue in research from many different perspectives. It has been widely examined in Eastern Europe as well. Some scholars look at the importance of volunteering (Salamon et al., 2011), while others specify the notion of international volunteering (Dudley, 2007). Volunteering in general and international volunteering have become increasingly appealing to youngsters. However, there is a very limited number of studies that focus on the volunteering of international students. Therefore, the paper extends the prior literature by including international students in the scope of volunteer studies. There is also a literature gap regarding the funding of university social responsibility programmes, including those from public sources. There is also not much known about the infrastructure for international volunteering in Central and Eastern Europe. In this article, we distinguish between international volunteering i.e. when volunteers travel abroad for volunteering and we concentrate on the latter. International student volunteers are people who travel abroad for a certain period with the main goal of studying, and then decide to become volunteers abroad. However, volunteering abroad can present different obstacles, one of which is the local language required, mostly for someone to be considered a potential candidate for volunteering. Without knowing the local language, the chances of international student volunteering are significantly lower and a huge economic potential can be missed. Therefore, this research analyses the current projects available for international young volunteers in the 4 (hereinafter V4) countries, as a part of the European Solidarity Corps (hereinafter ESC). The aim of the paper is to find out what opportunities are available for international volunteers in V4 countries and what volunteer profile is required by local volunteer organizations. V4 countries were chosen as these target countries have similar economic and volunteer backgrounds, compared to other, more advanced European or American views and attitudes towards volunteering (Pusztai et al., 2021). The method includes enlisting and analysing V4-relevant volunteer opportunities on the European Youth Portal database. The V4 country-relevant information is investigated from the viewpoint of who these organizations are looking for, what kind of activities they offer, why and how they are searching for potential candidates. Results Who? Why? , based on the categorization detailed in the methodology. This paper aims to contribute to the research field by analysing the opportunities young people between the ages of 18 and 30 have in order to provide a concise view of what requirements are needed to volunteer. An additional value of the paper lies in the fact that it aims to fill a research gap by providing concise data on volunteering opportunities, by identifying patterns and unique requirements of youngsters volunteering, to determine how much organizations are willing to work together with international volunteers. 2. Theoretical Background 2.1 International volunteering Volunteering has been the centre of interest for a long time among researchers. Recent developments and globalization have resulted in international volunteering. Rehberg (2005) investigated motivations for international volunteering in Switzerland. In the research, he only considered those students who already showed some willingness to volunteer abroad. Based on the qualitative and quantitative approaches, he was able to enlist 12 different motives for international volunteering, which can be grouped into three main categories: achieving something positive for others; the quest for the new; and the quest for oneself. Dudley (2007) viewed volunteering from a newer perspective and investigated the volunteer activities of immigrants. He found that the lack of knowing the local implications for international students volunteering 5 language is a key barrier if an immigrant wants to volunteer because they do not speak the native language of the country. However, they also found that if an immigrant is included in volunteer activities, they are more likely to learn the local language more easily, and they find it easier to integrate into the co . Dudley (2007) also suggests integrating volunteering in the language learning curriculum. Similarly to the research mentioned above, Otoo and Amuquandoh (2014) studied the motivations behind international volunteering in Ghana as part of volunteer tourism. The investigation revealed that the main motivating factors for individuals to volunteer in Ghana are altruism and learning, philanthropy and socialization. However, it was also found that there are differences between individuals who had past travel volunteer experiences and those who had not. The latter group was found to be more engaged in securing ties with the local communities. 2.2 Volunteering international students Most of the articles look at the topic of international rather than looking at foreign people volunteering in a certain country (Rothwell and Charleston, 2012). This viewpoint is determined in the literature, but also highlights the importance and lack of those studies that examine the voluntary activities of international people inside a certain country. While the number of studies looking at the impact of there are several papers on the economic impact of international students on the host (Butcher, 2002; Universities UK, 2017; Pinfold, 2018) and their own countries (Mantong, 2017). The economic impact on economy is less developed than the recipient country, there is economic growth in the home country. Some studies solely concentrate on the relationship between education, educated students and the economic implications of these students (Baumann and Hamin, 2011), while others look at the impact students make on , 2002; Universities UK, 2017). The economic impact of international students is a widely studied phenomenon in other countries as well (Butcher, 2002; Vickers and Bekhradnia, 2007). Based on the findings and importance of international students, it should be the aim of the country to welcome and encourage international students to study there. Regarding V4 countries, Nestorenko (2016) investigated the economic impact of international students in Bratislava, Slovakia, which was found to have a significant effect on the economy of the city. In investigated the Their results indicate that the money they spend on entertainment, relaxation and travel besides their tuition fee contributes to the local economy and the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs ) sector. This also leads to the creation of new workplaces and a colleagues investigated how foreign students spend their free time in Szeged. The investigation also pointed out that international students have a great economic impact on the city, and found that these students have social importance as well. However, they also highlighted the lack of recreational and leisure activities in the city. All the studies mentioned above emphasize the importance and impact including economic of international students. In our previous economic potential of Erasmus+ student volunteer activities in the V4 countries. The result was the estimate of an economic value of volunteer time of between 400,000 and 3,500,000 EUR in V4 countries per year. on earlier studies focused on the value of volunteering from various contexts. Though in the past, the economic dimension of volunteering was predominantly researched in English-speaking countries in North America, the UK and Australia ., 2020), there have been many studies on this topic outside native English countries. Orlowski and Wicker (2016) researched the value of voluntary coaching in Germany. Mayer and Silva (2017) investigated the value of corporate volunteering in Portugal, while Sajardo and Serra (2010) focused on the value of social and environmental volunteering in Spain. Gallarza, Arteaga and Gil-Saura (2013) focused on the value of volunteering in Spain. Among others, Al-Ani (2017) added to the research field by looking at the value of volunteering in Oman. In V4 countries, Waniak-Michalak (2015) researched the financial results of Polish and UK public benefit organizations and their relations to volunteering, while researched the possibilities of using the value of volunteering as a motivation tool in Slovakia. researched the possibilities of the Czech Statistical Office to analyze the value of volunteering in the Czech Republic using different methods. Most of these studies are not concerned directly with international volunteering but provide arguments for researching its infrastructure. The economic impact cannot materialize unless students are willing to volunteer abroad. To discover 6 revue Central European Review of Economic Issues 25, 2022 - (2018) looked at the willingness of volunteer in one of the V4 countries, Hungary. Findings at the University of Szeged show that both international and Hungarian students are willing to volunteer. However, surprisingly, foreign students were more committed and determined to volunteer. This might stem from cultural differences between Hungarian and international students, as in Hungary, volunteering is not as widespread as in other countries. For Hungarian students, obligatory volunteering has just been introduced, which raises many questions. However, the fact that international students would be more willing to volunteer in Hungary is an interesting finding, even though there were several obstacles to their volunteering opportunities. The hardships behind international voluntary activities were also uncovered in the paper, which were the lack of English knowledge at volunteer organizations, a lack of proper marketing activities and a lack of institutional help from the university to connect the opportunity with the demand. As one interviewee said, they volunteer . 3. Methodology To date, various methods have been developed and introduced to investigate volunteering, depending on the purpose of the study. In the current paper, a qualitative approach is used to analyse international volunteer opportunities in the V4 countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary). V4 countries were chosen as the basis of the research, as there are many similarities among them in terms of economy, infrastructure and living standards. A case-study approach of these countries was chosen to allow a deeper insight into international volunteering in the region. Data were gathered from the European Youth Portal database, which contains the currently available international volunteer possibilities for youngsters. Presently, 653 organizations are registered at the European Youth Portal in the V4 countries, which is 10.16% of the total number of registered organizations at the Portal. Table 1 shows more detailed information about the organizations. Table 1 Organizations registered at the European Youth Portal for volunteering opportunities Country Number Percent Czech Republic 138 2.15 % Slovakia 118 1.84 % Poland 295 4.59 % Hungary 102 1.59 % V4 total 653 10.16 % Every registered country - Total 6429 100.00 % Source: Constructed by authors based on the European Youth Portal (2019) Even though there are 653 organizations registered online, some of them are acting as supporting organizations, while others are hosting organizations. We found 96 listings for international volunteers in the V4 countries on 24 June 2019, which accounts for 11.58% of the total number of offers. This is shown in Table 2. We can see that Poland has the highest number of opportunities, which can be attributed to the size of the country. Table 2 Projects registered at the European Youth Portal for volunteering opportunities Country Number Percent Czech Republic 14 1.69 % Slovakia 6 0.72 % Poland 65 7.84 % Hungary 11 1.33 % V4 total 96 11.58 % Projects in every registered country - Total 829 100.00 % Source: Constructed by authors based on the European Youth Portal (2019) Data obtained from the online database were analysed manually with the help of Excel sheets. Altogether, 87 opportunities were examined and analysed manually, based on the categorization categories included project description, accommodation, food and travel arrangements, training implications for international students volunteering 7 during the projects, volunteer profile, application, additional information, related links, placement dates, placement location, looking for form, placement topic and placement deadline. Nine projects were excluded from the analysis, because the provided information was not in English, which we supposed to have been the prevailing communication and study language of international students. Results are shown according to who can volunteer among international students, why they volunteer, how they are able to do so and what they prefer doing while volunteering. 4. Results To identify the basic characteristics of the volunteer opportunities, we have analysed all the provided information online. The analysis is based on the logic of uncovering who these organizations are looking for, why and how they are searching for potential candidates and what they need these candidates for. Results are presented according to the logic of Who? Why? How? What?, based on the categorization detailed in the methodology. Who? Regarding the people these organizations are looking for in terms of international volunteering, we investigated the related information about the applica Descriptions not available in English were excluded from the analysis. Therefore, 87 cases were examined altogether. Regarding the country of origin, we found that there are several similarities in the examined V4 countries in show that Hungary welcomes and has volunteer programmes mostly for people from Spain (7), Austria (6), Belgium (6), Bulgaria (6), Cyprus (6), Czech Republic (6), Denmark (6), Estonia (6), Finland (6), France (6), Germany (6) and Greece (6). There are also opportunities for people from other countries too, but the number of opportunities was below 6 (e.g.: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.). Similarly to Hungary, the Czech Republic has the most volunteer opportunities for people from Austria (9), Bulgaria (9), France (10), Germany (9) and Spain (9). Other much more limited. Slovakia shows a similar tendency, as it offers the most opportunities to people from Germany (3), Greece (3), Italy (3) and Spain (3). Poland had the significantly highest number of volunteer opportunities for internationals. Therefore, the numbers should be considered accordingly. Poland has the most opportunities for people from Austria (28), Czech Republic (29), Denmark (28), Germany (34), Greece (29) and Spain (31). We can conclude that in each country regardless of the total number of volunteer opportunities offered people from Germany and Spain have the most opportunities. Inside the V4 countries, German people have 52 opportunities, while Spanish people have 50. Besides analysing the countries of origin, we also looked at and investigated the desired volunteer profile. It is important that these categories are not placement topics as they will be analysed later but these are the characteristics of potential volunteers. First, keywords such as nouns, adjectives and adverbs were collected from each description; then descriptions were categorized according to a pattern found in them. We created six categories based on the analysis, which can be seen in Table 3. Each category has its own assigned keywords, based on which the categories were created. Table 3 Volunteer profiles and relevant keywords Skill category required Numbe r of cases found Relevant keywords Culture 17 English, local language knowledge, culture, creativity, openness, guidance, initiative, community, teamwork, tolerant, responsible, religion, polite, patient, sociable, dancing, music, media, art, design, technologies Hospitalit y 1 festival, assistance, cooking, hospitality Society 34 society, underprivileged, therapy, addiction, disadvantaged, openness, help, nature, handicap, maturity, responsibility, empathic, determined, mature, initiative, education, teaching, disability, susta inability, healthy lifestyle, openness, pedagogical, patience, creative Youth 21 youth, youngsters, children, initiative, creative, open, independent, music, handicrafts, enthusiastic, flexible, responsible, communication, outdoor, organized, kind, local language, education, sports Motivatio n 10 motivated, interested, openness, friendly, cheerful, patient, independent, active, initiative, flexible, creative Not specified 4 no specific skills required Source: Own study, own construction, 2021 As can be seen in Table 3, we defined the cultural skills of potential candidates based on the keywords in the 8 revue Central European Review of Economic Issues 25, 2022 description. These keywords were all relevant to language knowledge, culture, creativity, openness, community, religion, and other personality traits that can be seen in the table. The hospitality skill set is composed of elements such as assistance at certain places, festivals, cooking and hospitality itself. Those organizations that look for volunteers with a strong set of societal skills require them to be open, friendly, helpful, and often work with underprivileged, disabled, or disadvantaged people. Most related activities include teaching, education and nature. Dealing with the youth requires potential volunteers to have initiative, be creative, open, independent, flexible, responsible and to have good skills in arts and handicrafts, education, languages and sports. Motivation was needed for almost all volunteer opportunities. However, there were several descriptions that stipulated motivation as the only requirement of potential volunteers. Therefore, a category of motivation was created separately, and motivation as a keyword is left out from all the other categories. There were some open opportunities that did not require any specific skills; that is why the category of not specified was created. researched their attributes and characteristics by enlisting the adjectives included in the profile description. Our findings are presented in a word cloud in Figure 1. Based on the word cloud we can conclude that most organizations are looking for people who are open towards others, motivated, creative and have the initiative to work as a volunteer. Additional positive personality traits include politeness, responsibility, tolerance, flexibility, patience, activeness, social skills and respect. Figure 1: Potential volunteer personality traits Source: Own study, own construct, 2021 Based on the previous analyses, we can conclude that organizations in the V4 area are looking for many international volunteers from various parts of the world. There are numerous opportunities for many nationalities, and there are several skill sets they can utilize to gain the opportunity to volunteer. We have distinguished between different volunteer profiles, namely culture, hospitality, society, youth and motivation. These volunteer profiles might help prospective volunteers and organizations to find each other more easily and it can also allow international students to see how they might fit volunteering into their schedule. However, we should keep in mind that these opportunities were found in the summer of 2019, so summer bias may apply, as there may be more opportunities for people who want to volunteer and help youngsters during this season. Why? Another question we need to look at is why organizations demand volunteer labour. We have identified several categories of organizational motivation based on the information in the European Youth Portal, which include enhancing education and self-development services (76 projects), enriching cultural, sport and community life (41 projects), enhancing social services (36 projects) and sustainable lifestyle service (13 projects). There were three projects we could not categorize due to lack of information. Economically speaking, organizations need volunteer labour to achieve their own missions and goals in the categories mentioned above. However, the motivational factors of volunteers themselves are also crucial, according to the literature. Regarding ESC volunteers, the general motivational factors are going abroad, working in and taking part in the field and activities they like, and having guaranteed acceptable conditions through the programme (e.g. food, accommodation, grant). Therefore, ESC programmes offer volunteers the possibility to visit new countries, working in the field they like as volunteers, under certain conditions (travel reimbursements, food, accommodation, pocket money, insurance, training possibilities). These conditions are described in the following section. While travelling and providing certain arrangements are focused on enabling the volunteering experience to happen, the training category outcomes usually exceed the volunteering period. Economically speaking, the participants can enhance their position in the labour market through developing their human potential via training courses and practical activities. Based on our results, we can say that organizations are looking for volunteers mainly in the areas of enhancing education, self-development services and enriching cultural, sport and community life. This might imply accordance with international students presupposed aims of studying abroad. Therefore, the opportunities these organizations offer might be especially attractive to international students. How? In the twenty-first century, volunteering infrastructure standard ways of communication, but also modern communication methods, such as specialized online platforms or social media. Therefore, in Europe, one of implications for international students volunteering 9 the most important volunteering infrastructure tools is the European Youth Portal. On this portal, potential volunteers can find basic information, search for volunteering opportunities based on several criteria, such as project country or project topics. There is also a standardized way of applying to partner button. Most organizations (65 projects) in our sample used this method and did not add other conditions. On the other hand, some organization chose to apply some of the standard methods of the recruitment and selection process, which include email application, CV and covering letters sent as an obligatory part of the selection process, a unique application form, extra tasks before applying, Skype interviews, or photos attached to the application. The most heterogeneous subgroup had an extra task. The applicants could either choose or were obliged to send an alternative form of application (e.g. they may be challengedto make a creative application: in the form of a drawing, video, CV)), which could be a CV with a covering letter or any other type of introduction they liked. Another alternative form included preparing a collage about themselves, answering certain questions in a covering letter or performing certain icts between two methods other than those mentioned above (like a subsequent Skype interview). However, we solely work with the information they enlisted on the European Youth Portal. After the volunteer is accepted, there is usually training provided. While 22 projects stated no information about a training, we can assume that some training would follow, either based on the conditions of receiving the grant, or for practical reasons. The rest of the projects have provided information about their training to volunteers, which consisted of three main elements, namely on-arrival trainings, mid-term trainings or evaluation, and other training types. - - re typically conducted with the cooperation of national agencies, but they sometimes include other trainings by local organizations as well. While in some cases there was no specific information about the topics of the training, in the majority of cases the topics about on-arrival training and mid-term training are known. In other trainings, apart from on-arrival and mid-term trainings, the dominant topic was learning the local language: 32 projects explicitly mentioned this module, either as a voluntary or compulsory part of volunteer training. If we investigate the information about all trainings available, we can find a pattern among the different types, including special skills, soft skills, adventure activities, cultural and organizational issues, and special needs trainings. Special skills included topics such as providing first aid, developing various teaching skills or other leisure time activities (e.g. social animation), while skilled activities involve filmmaking, bulletin-making trainings, workshops on photographs, ceramics and handmade papers. Soft skills trainings include communication matters (e.g. intercultural communication and public speaking), teamwork (e.g. conflict management or team building) and self-development (e.g. developing self-awareness, goal-setting and youth self-development). Special needs training includes both soft and special skills, as on these training types, you can learn about handicapped children, have courses about communication with people with mental illness or specialized courses in social work. Adventure activity trainings include activities such as archery, handcraft, horse riding, treasure-hunting, rowing, carriage driving, and circus training for adults. The cultural and organizational category includes introductory international weeks based on cultural adaptation and organizational matters. The volunteer training system has some further steps after initial trainings. They then evaluate and mentor volunteers during the project, provide online trainings (before arrival and during the volunteer period), organize a conclusion seminar or a final evaluation, and a pre-departure meeting in the country of residence. Based on these findings and the growing number of online assessments of potential volunteer candidates, we can assume that voluntary organizations will use the possibilities of online human resource management techniques more often in the future. In case of international volunteering, the most apparent methods to use these approaches is online courses (e.g. for languages) and sharing the important information with volunteers. Some projects regarded practical activities as a way to learn; therefore, we called this category practical learning . The difference is that in terms of practical training, the activities are not primarily focused on volunteers learning but on achieving a goal, participating or producing (non-market) goods and services. However, there is a presumption among the non-profits that they will learn anyway while participating in this task often in cooperation with regular employees. The category included 29 projects (33.3% of all projects investigated). The practical learning included special skill activities, intercultural skills and soft skill activities. The special skills activities included manual, IT or pedagogical projects, as well as the managerial aspects such as creating own educational projects and project management or assisting tasks. The second category, intercultural skills, was focused on activities for 10 revue Central European Review of Economic Issues 25, 2022 intercultural understanding, such as participating in intercultural learning activities. The third category, soft skills, included activities such as self-development. While ESC (and previously the European Voluntary Service) offers the opportunity for young people to travel abroad for an intensive voluntary experience, it is also important to look at the accommodation, food and travel arrangements they provide. Most common accommodation types include shared flat or house and dormitory placement. In some cases, details of accommodation are not specified. Surprisingly, only 6.9% of projects were offering dormitories for volunteer accommodation. We can assume that this is because of the lack of free availability of dormitories, or the destination is not located in student cities. Another surprising finding was that 18 projects (28.6%) out of 63 explicitly mentioned that an apartment or a house would be rented for volunteers. There is no public information on the costs of these accommodations or about the motivation of organizations to choose these kinds of accommodation for volunteers. Regarding arrangements for food, the projects mostly offer money allowances for food (70.1%), but in some cases there is little information provided or information suggests that volunteers will have to take care of food arrangements themselves. Some projects provide meals for volunteers themselves as a complimentary food allowance. The principles of travel expenses are stated in the rules of the ESC, but there are certain aspects that can vary. According to the information on the European Youth Portal, local public transportation is reimbursed in 56.3% of cases, international transport and travel organizational costs are also covered in 42.5% of cases. However, travel cost coverage is not available or there was no information about it in 21.8% of the cases examined. In certain cases, volunteers are provided bicycles (13.8%) and sometimes there is no need for local public transport (8%). Only 42.5% of projects mentioned reimbursement of return travel expenses to and from the host country. The proximity of the volunteer accommodation explained the reasons for the lack of need for public transportation. In this case, weekly journeys were organized to the bigger towns with travel reimbursements. All in all, in this section, we can conclude that the organizations studied cover the costs of accommodation and travelling. If these potential volunteers are international students, their accommodation and travel costs are already supposedly covered, because they are already there and must have accommodation because of their studies. Therefore, organizations can save a tremendous amount of money on these aspects. Thus, economically, it would be advantageous for them to have international student volunteers. Additionally, international students might utilize local language trainings that volunteer organizations offer. These courses might be desirable for them, as part of both their volunteer and study experience, as they would not have to spend money on such courses. This way, the cooperation between students and local volunteer organizations is mutually beneficial from an economic point of view too. Lastly, potential international student volunteers might learn a lot from the application process, as their CV and covering letter writing skills will become stronger and they can utilize this knowledge later in their professional life too. What? As the last step of our primary research, we investigated what these international volunteer programmes offer to potential volunteers and for how long. Regarding the length of the programmes, we can conclude that the average required time spent at an organization is 36 weeks, which might seem quite long, but in many cases volunteers do not have to stay for the full length of a programme. The shortest opportunity was 1-week long, while the longest lasted for 77 weeks. The most common length of these programes was 52 weeks. There were several programmes that started in 2017 and 2018, but programmes starting in 2019 made up the majority with a final finish date of 2021 at the latest. There are several placement topics a potential volunteer can choose from according to their preferences. These topics can be seen in Table 4. In the next step of the research, we determined the currently available number of opportunities in each category. It is important to note that one volunteer opportunity can have more than one placement topic assigned to it. Therefore, the number of placement topic possibilities is recorded. Table 4 Number of volunteer opportunities according to placement topic Placement topic Number of opportunities Education and training 42 Creativity and culture 41 Social challenges 23 Not specified Citizenship and democratic participation 23 Citizenship and democratic participation 16 Health and wellbeing 7 Environment and natural protection 5 Employment and entrepreneurship 2 Physical education and sport 2 Disaster prevention and recovery 1 implications for international students volunteering 11 Source: Own study, own construct, 2021 Based on our review, we can conclude that most specifications either lack relevant data, or the descriptions are usually misleading or insufficient. They do not specify programmes according to the placement topic, which might make it harder for potential candidates to find their desired programme online. Volunteers have to look for this information elsewhere if it is provided usually in the volunteer profile part of the call. These findings suggest a more effective posting of volunteer opportunities online. With a more effective description, potential volunteers might be able to find their desired call more easily. 5. Discussion The research results of this study might not apply to every international volunteering activity, as we solely discussed the specifics of ESC volunteer programmes. We concluded that there are several economic consequences of the results that we found and volunteering internationally. One specific economic consequence is that if internationals, and more specifically, international students, volunteer, their costs of volunteering might not be so high, as their accommodation and travel costs are already supposedly covered, so the volunteer organization does not have the responsibility of covering these costs for them. Another economic consequence is that potential international student volunteers do not exactly know where to look for volunteer opportunities even if they are already in the host country. Therefore, an additional volunteering infrastructure could be introduced, which includes further costs. Here, we have addressed several questions. Who is responsible for connecting international students with organizations? Is it the task of the university? Universities, as a centre of knowledge, might serve as a mediator between local organizations and international students potentially interested in volunteering. However, their organizational, financial and networking capacity might differ regarding their size, focus, orientation and other factors. Thirdly, we have addressed the issue of volunteering internationally, and we have narrowed it down to international students volunteering. These student volunteer activities can have serious additional economic consequences, as it is not yet clear who would be the responsible funding party for their volunteer activities. Can their volunteering be funded by the ESC? Does the ESC let students study full-time and volunteer partor full-time in the same period? After detailing the economic aspects, several hardships of volunteering internationally have also been found in the current research. Volunteers can find volunteer opportunities within the ESC at the European Youth Portal. However, this portal does not yet allow organizations to promote their volunteering opportunities apart from programmes financed by the European Union. Therefore, this database cannot provide a full list of opportunities available to international students interested in volunteering. Thus, an additional volunteering platform is needed to gather all the information about the demand for (and potentially also the supply of) volunteer work among international students. As has been stated above, the recruitment process at the ESC is mostly in English and an initial knowledge of the local language is not required. However, some of the projects, especially those including working with children, require volunteers to learn the local language during the volunteer period. While volunteer work of international students would probably not be so intensive, it is less likely that they would learn the local language enough to be able to use it on a working basis. While volunteering in ESC programmmes has some significant differences, there are also some similarities applicable to international student volunteers. International students volunteering in V4 countries have significant economic potential, even though we use the assumption of several hours per month or week by - implies the interest of international students in more activities than just eating, sleeping and studying. The other reason for assuming internatio interest in volunteering is the potential of volunteering to enhance their study experience and their professional, cultural and/ societal horizons. This preliminary finding suggests that the volunteering infrastructure is ready for a certain number of Englishspeaking volunteers. However, the capacity of local organizations and their willingness to participate in this activity might be dependent on additional funding (e.g. via the ESC). We can also assume that the volunteering infrastructure in V4 countries is (at least partially) ready for English-speaking volunteers. However, the link between potential student volunteers and local organizations is missing. Therefore, international student volunteers in V4 countries might not know that it is possible for them to volunteer in the V4 countries, let alone where to find information about the possibilities. The willingness of international students to volunteer in V4 countries is yet unknown, as is the willingness of the local organizations in V4 countries to welcome international student volunteers. However, we found almost 100 projects and about 650 organizations in V4 countries interested in recruiting international volunteers as a part of the ESC. This type of service is