Accessibility statement

Information for community organisations

Who are our students?

There are nearly 17,000 students at the University of York. We have a wide mix of students across our 3 faculties (Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences). All of our volunteering opportunities are available to all current University of York students, ranging from first year residents all the way up to students completing their PhD. We’re proud that our students come from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.

We work hard to ensure opportunities are mutually beneficial and enable our students to gain and develop transferable skills.

When thinking about students as volunteers and if they are right for your role, please consider:

  • Students fit volunteering around their studies and often have a part-time job. We recommend roles are ideally no more than 5 hours a week.

  • The University of York has three 10 week terms and a high proportion of students leave York and go home during University vacation periods - including Christmas, Easter and the summer.
    Please familiarise yourself with the University’s term dates.

  • Students have an intense exam and assessment period in early January and between April and June.

What support can we provide? 

  • Brokerage campaign 3 times a year to promote regular volunteer roles
  • Develop one-off or low commitment opportunities to enable students to volunteer together as a group at a specific event or to complete a community task.
  • Scope team consultancy projects for students to tackle! This can be to create a short film, deliver an event or conduct a piece of research. 

How can I get involved?

Contact the Volunteering Team at volunteering@york.ac.uk, we’d be happy to help develop ideas with you!

Please be aware that we are unable to advertise the following on our volunteering portal:

  • Roles outside York, whether national or international
    Our aim is to support the local community and continue to make York an even better place to live!
  • Internships or paid roles
  • Roles that could be classified as voluntary work
  • Roles which involve students cash handling (for fundraising activities please contact University of York's Student Union) 

If your role fulfills any of the above criteria, please see how to advertise your vacancies.

“Our student volunteers have been a pleasure to work with! I would keep them forever if I could.” - St Nicks Volunteer Coordinator