Providence, RI — Campus Compact’s latest annual member survey reveals a strong commitment to service and civic engagement on the part of students and others on campus. Among the 6 million students at Campus Compact’s 1,100+ member colleges and universities, nearly one-third participated in campus-organized service and service-learning projects during the 2006-2007 academic year, contributing $7 billion in services to their communities. These students provided key assistance in areas such as tutoring, health care, hunger, homelessness, the environment, economic development, and senior services.

In addition to providing an average of 5 hours a week of service, students are increasingly involved in decision-making and administrative processes guiding their campuses’ community engagement efforts. Among other work, students serve on service or civic engagement committees (75%), work in community service/service-learning offices (68%), and act as liaisons to community agencies (67%).

“These results speak not only to commitment of our member campuses to building strong communities but also to their desire to prepare students to be active members of our democracy,” says Campus Compact president Maureen F. Curley. “Students who have worked to address social issues — and especially those who are able to assume a high level of responsibility in performing this work — will graduate well equipped to be the next civic and community leaders.”

Overall, the survey results demonstrate that service, service-learning, and civic engagement have not only become standard facets of the higher education experience but are continuing to advance. Nearly all member campuses offer support mechanisms for community engagement, both locally and globally. Support for such efforts includes on-campus service opportunities (offered by 89% of responding schools), opportunities for staff and faculty to serve alongside students (85%), one-day student service projects (85%), student service awards (71%), and alternative breaks (67%), in which students work on projects in near or far-flung communities instead of taking a traditional vacation.

Other highlights of the 2007 survey include:

• Among responding campuses, 90% include service or civic engagement in their mission statement; 83% include it in their strategic plan.
• Member campuses offer an average of 36 service-learning courses, which incorporate community work into the curriculum.
• In a key indicator of commitment, 85% of member campuses reward community-based research or service-learning in faculty review, tenure, and/or promotion decisions.
• On average, campuses have 77 community partnerships each involving a range of nonprofit/community-based organizations, K-12 schools, faith-based organizations, and government agencies.

Full survey results by year are available at /about/statistics/.