Free Time

Gap Year

Thinking about a year out between college and university?

Careful planning is needed to ensure you get the most out of this time.

There’s lots of help available; check out the resources in your local Connexions centre. Or you can visit the websites opposite.

Year in Industry places you with a really good firm  (you decide where) for the best part of a year to learn how a business works, and you get paid.

Worldwide Volunteering is a database of nearly 1000 volunteer organisations in 215 countries worldwide.

BUNAC offers a range of working holidays including a summer camp counselling programme in the USA, and volunteering placements for full-time and gap year students and other young people from both the UK and the USA. 

Concordia organise the European Voluntary Service (EVS) for the South East area. EVS runs full time residential volunteer projects all over Europe. EVS provides accommodation (bills paid for), food, transport, insurance, support seminars, language courses, around €300 pocket money…….. and places volunteers in a projects working 30 hours a week. Projects vary form working with Disabled Adults to Arts projects to youth clubs and bird reserves. Projects available all over Europe and a few in Turkey and Mexico. Volunteer pays no fees.

CSV is much the same system as Concordia (see above) but volunteers work in the UK. CSV guarantees to find a suitable project to place every applicant.

The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) employs young people in most of their hostels. Work depends on the hostel. Young people are well supported and the posts are mostly “live in” positions. Young people get paid to work and have somewhere full of other young people to live. YHA has equivalent organisations in many other countries of the world, most of them run a similar scheme.

Page updated: Saturday, March 8, 2008 10:30 PM