A third-level teaching initiative involving a module allowing students to do voluntary community work relevant to their course degrees is to be extended to the six Dublin institutes of technology.

The Government is funding the initiative to the tune of €330,000 over the next three years.

After three years, the success of the DIT community learning programme (CLP) will be measured and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will consider introducing it into all third-level colleges.

The programme has been running since September 2001 in DIT's faculty of tourism and food and 100 students have taken part in volunteer work relevant to their course work.

The programme is referred to as service learning, a teaching method that integrates classroom learning in any discipline with volunteering activity.

The course material is taught in class as usual and learning is then enhanced by integration with subject-related volunteering activities.

Volunteering projects DIT students have been involved with include working with the Special Olympics team and a Bosnia Relief fundraising project.

Speaking at the DIT launch, Prof Edward Zlotkowski, from Boston's Bentley College, said the programme has impacted on communities in the US that otherwise do not benefit from higher education.

Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Noel Ahern said the department got involved because the number of people volunteering had dropped.

"CLP prepares students for the world of work and teaches them about the benefit of volunteering," he said.