First General Assembly, September 2013, Freiburg

About Us

The European University for Volunteering

The “Association European University for Volunteering (EUV)” is non-profit Association (NGO) in the sense of Art. 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code, based in Basel, Switzerland.

The Association EUV is apolitical, non-religion organized, multicultural, and, inspired by the medieval ones; it is itinerant. It bases its activities on the ideas of the medieval travelling university, thereby offering a university education on topics related to civil engagement and civil society to volunteers and professionals working in the field of volunteering; this happens in interdisciplinary lectures and seminars taking place at irregular intervals.

The strength of the EUV is that it brings universities and NGOs together. This special cooperation enables deepening and training for volunteers and improves the quality of volunteer work through research and support. This provides the participating universities research fields in practice and learning fields for students.

European University for Voluntary Service

The European University for Voluntary Service was established in 1991 , during a plenary session in Brussels of the European Association of Volunteers, A.V.E. (Association pour le Volontariat à l'acte gratuit en Europe), by Luis Marti Bosch / Barcelona with agreement of A.Coppé, president of A.V.E., in cooperation with representatives of Universities from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. A.V.E., as a member of IAVE, played a special role to promote and to qualify volunteering in Europe. The first five sessions of the European University for Voluntary Service were held under the responsibility of A.V.E., 1993 in Barcelona. Rectors were a.o. Prof. Pinto / Portugal and Prof. Masó / Spain.

For more: Eugen Baldas / Sebastián Masó / Kristin Sverdrup, The European University for Voluntary Service, in: Eugen Baldas / Jorge Nuño Mayer, Rainer A.Roth (Hg.), Volunteer! Make a difference! Momentum from 2001+10, Freiburg 2012, S.128-136. Download PDF

The “Association European University for Volunteering (EUV)”

In September 2011, participants of the 6th session of the EUV in Basel and Prof.Dr.Sebastián Masó, Madrid, former Rector of the EUV, suggested founding an independent “Association European University for Volunteering" in order to stabilize the EUV for longer time. The statute was then drawn up and the Association EUV was founded on 17th October 2012 in Basel by Prof. Dr. Georg von Schnurbein (President, Basel), Dr. Eugen Baldas (Treasurer, Freiburg) and Daniel Wiederkehr (Basel).

General Assembly:

The General Assembly is the highest organ of the Association EUV. The General Assembly takes place in years when an EUV event is organized. Any extraordinary meetings shall be convened as required. The first General Assembly was hold in Freiburg, 2013, the 2nd took place in Rolduc, 2014; the 3rd in Strasbourg 2016 and the 4th in Moscow 2019. For more information: Statutes

Board of Directors

The Board represents the Association externally. The Board evaluates applications for the implementation of an EUV event and decides on the transfer procedure to the local organizing institutions. For more information: Board of Directors