became more active, talkative and understood that "efficiency depends on good organization" via these activities. He gained lots of fun, friendship and also experience that he cannot gain from books. It improved his personal abilities in becoming independent and well-organized.

Students who quit their groups are mainly for the reason of time limit (51 percent) while only 10 percent of them for the reason of income. Nevertheless, they do know and have experienced benefits from joining as a volunteer. About 88 percent of the collegians acknowledged that the experience is helpful in regard to gaining working experience, improving communication skills, or learning to be independent and well-organized. Lam mentioned that if you succeed in hosting an activity, "the feeling of success can push you to do everything." He was not doing a part-time job at that time and just wanted to handle his association and studies well.

Gaining social experience is another reason for students doing a voluntary job. Edith Cheong, a Year 2 student who majors in International Business said, "I have established the Volunteers Society because I want more students at the University of Macau (UM) to join us in doing this meaningful job." Mostly, their job is to provide assistance to other UM associations or social organizations outside. Cheong said that she can learn how to plan for an activity, and apply the social skills into communication with different people. "As the social interaction is very important, I've learned how to communicate with other people while providing help to other organizations. Also, I think that joining the Volunteer Society is just like a good preparation course to step into another turning point of my life."

Joining these volunteer groups is not only for oneself but the whole society. Jerry Leong, director general of UMSU pointed out, "We are serving not only students in UM, but also citizens in Macau, including people who are in need."

UMSU held a clothes donation activity in May 2006, in cooperation with the Salvation Army