Volunteer as a mentor in our youth programs

Who are AEF and what do you do?

The Asia Education Foundation is a small centre at the University of Melbourne that works with primary and high schools across Australia and 23 Asia-Pacific countries.

We run a number of online and face-to-face youth programs for high school students and primary school students that connect them across the region with peers. For example we might run many 3-day and week long online programs for students in high schools in Victoria to connect with students in high schools in China, Japan, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. In this program they explore with each other what it means to be a global citizen.

We do this to broaden horizons, create relationships and networks and promote inclusion and diversity.

All our staff are educators or have worked in school education for a long time. They design and run all the programs, but as we work with high school or primary school students it is great to have other young people like university students work with them and support them in youth programs.

We are always looking for enthusiastic University of Melbourne students who can volunteer some time to help in our programs and act as a positive role model for younger students.

Our programs run throughout the year.

We have a few events running May, July, August, September, October and early November. Most of these programs run over 3 to 5 days and are hosted online on ZOOM or face-to-face on the Unviersity campus at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre on Swanston Street.

These programs usually run during school times between 9am and 3pm. You can read more about some of the programs we run here.

What will I do?

In terms of volunteering activities, we usually ask our volunteers to attend the online sessions or face-to-face sessions and act as positive role models for younger students and help them complete activities during the programs. For example if the program is online and the primary or high school students go into breakout rooms, we would put a university volunteer in a breakout room with a small group of students from Australia and another country such as China. We would ask the volunteer to help facilitate the activity and any conversations ensuring students talk to each other and know what they need to do to complete the activity. We usually ask the University volunteers to ensure that the students know what the task is that they need to do in the breakout room and maybe help with the conversation, encourage the students to speak to each other, and potentially help with some translation (if you have other language skills).

How much time do I need to volunteer?

We ideally ask all volunteers to commit to at least one full day from 9am to 3pm. Or multiple days if possible. 

Do you provide training?

Yes, We provide some training and briefings to support you to do this in our programs.

What do I do if I am interested?

If you are interested please email a short c.v. and covering letter/email to:

aef-support@asialink.unimelb.edu.au

Use the email subject line -

Youth Program Volunteer

You will also need to have at least a Victorian Working with Children Check. If you do not have one we can send you all the instructions on how to apply for one – these are free.  It just takes about 20 minutes to apply online. 

So, a couple of key things to consider. 

1. Can you commit at least one full day from about 9am to 3pm to help in our youth programs?
2. Could you attend a training session for a few hours, usually in the afternoon from 2pm to 5pm? 
3. Do you have a Victorian Working with Children Check? If you don't we can provide instructions on how to apply for a free volunteer one.