From September 1, the young persons who want to study at universities may benefit from concessions if they hold a volunteer card, which shows that the person contributed to community development. The first meeting of the Civil Society's Press Club discussed this and other kinds of activities aimed at motivating the private individuals and legal entities to do volunteer work and the successes and problems of the volunteer movement in Moldova. The meeting was attended by representatives of NGOs, the public authorities and the mass media, Info-Prim Neo reports. Doina Usaci, the representative of the Ministry of Education, said that after the Volunteering Law was adopted last year, the Ministry started to work out and implement mechanisms for stimulating volunteering. During university admission contests, priority will be given to the applicants who have volunteering experience and have a volunteer card. The Ministry's representative also said that most probably the cards will be similar to the employment record book. The volunteers will also be the first to receive places in dormitories and awards. “We planned that the volunteer work will be divided into five credits, which represent initiation and specialization stages. One credit totals 30 hours. It is a long period of time and the volunteers will have to prove that they seriously and systematically carried out volunteering activities,” said Doina Usaci. Under the Volunteering Law, the volunteer card will be issued to persons involved in volunteering activities at least 20 hours a month. The NGOs and the authorities are considering who should be issued with volunteer card and who should issue it. Antonita Fonari, head of the Association “Youth for Right to Life”, said that the students doing volunteer work who will be able to prove this will benefit from educational credits. According to the Volunteering Law, if there are two students from rural areas who are as good and are from families with five children, but one of them does volunteer work, the one who is involved in volunteering activities will be distributed a place in dormitory as he does something for the community,” said Antonita Fonari. According to her, a number of ministries and NGOs next week will organize a conference on volunteering, where there will be discussed the implementation of the law and formulated proposals for improving the legislation. The Civil Society's Press Club is convened within the Moldova Civil Society Strengthening Program that is implemented by the Academy for Educational Development with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development.