NEXT Solidarity Fund

Since its creation, the NEXT Solidarity Fund (FNEXT), promoted by the Justice and Peace University Institute, has sought to build a strong support network for public higher education students. It is the solidarity of the community and the close collaboration between the city's educational institutions, such as the University of Coimbra (UC), that has made this project possible, supporting more than 150 students of various nationalities every year. Tutoring of different subjects, the provision of meals, or support in the payment of tuition fees, accommodation, or health care are some of the areas in which students can count on FNEXT's support. A project that aims to make a difference in the lives of the students it supports, as well as in the path of those who join this solidarity initiative.

"Let no one be left behind" is the motto of the NEXT Solidarity Fund, a solidarity project created in May 2010 by the University Justice and Peace Institute to support students from Coimbra's public higher education institutions: the University of Coimbra, the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and the Nursing School of Coimbra.

For more than 12 years, the two core focuses of FNEXT's mission have been the fight against poverty and the prevention of school dropout, so that "the talent of our young people is not wasted and so that the difficulties and sacrifices that students and their families make to pursue higher education studies are minimised", explains the director of the Justice and Peace University Institute, Father Paulo Simões.

In order to respond to its mission, the project provides different types of support to students, namely "monitoring and counselling; support regarding the payment of tuition fees, food or health-related issues; psycho-pedagogical support, through tutoring and study support; or providing meals", explains Ana Escada, coordinator of the NEXT Solidarity Fund and senior technician at the Justice and Peace University Institute. However, some urgent situations that occur in students' lives need to be addressed and supported, and these are carefully analysed "on an individual and situation-by-situation basis", explains Ana Escada.

In recent years, the NEXT Solidarity Fund has supported over 150 students each year with more than EUR 30,000 annually. Fundraising takes place in several ways, whether through donations from companies, private individuals, students' nuclei of the University of Coimbra or other student associations in the city, or the educational institutions themselves, which organise solidarity initiatives.

Paulo Simões states that, "FNEXT has involved higher education institutions from the very beginning: we do not work without higher education institutions, we work with them, acting in parallel to the support they provide and in order to fulfil the support that the law does not allow them to provide".

The University of Coimbra has been actively collaborating with FNEXT for many years. One such example is the voluntary support provided by UC students themselves. Isabella Lima, a student at the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, has been collaborating with the solidarity project for a couple of years. She currently leads the tutoring team, which consists mainly of tutors - students who are responsible for accompanying their peers who ask for tutoring, finding and introducing them to the tutor and following up on them until the end of the tutoring. "In order to present a solution to students' difficulties in some courses, we thought of calling other students to help those who struggle with certain subjects", explains Isabella Lima.

In the coming years, the NEXT Solidarity Fund will continue to meet the ongoing challenge of supporting students, as well as "promoting a stronger community involvement", shares Fr Paulo Simões.

Content Production and Editing: Catarina Ribeiro, DCOM and Inês Coelho, DCOM

Image Editing: Sara Baptista, NMAR

Translation: Diana Taborda, DCOM

^{Published on 10.11.2022}