University student volunteering for development : towards a critical approach

This chapter explores international volunteering for development (V4D) with respect to students at Australian universities. It first introduces literature around V4D and its relationship to civil society, the traditional realm of understanding volunteering. It then explores the policy environment in which Australian universities operate, focusing on the rise and growth of student mobility, the different types of student volunteering for development (SV4D) operations, and how these interactions defy a simple categorisation. The chapter proposes a theoretical framework of reciprocity and exchange as a means of assessing SV4D operations, and argues that Australian university SV4D programmes fall short of this reciprocity, leading to the perpetuation of patterns of public pedagogy that reinforce existing binaries of needy others who require assistance.