• Student Volunteering Opportunities

Give back to the world and bring back a world of understanding. Apply your academic training,  creativity and compassion to ground-level, “hands-on” community development. Group coordinators and school administrators: LEARN MORE HERE. You can qualify for study abroad, service-learning and/or academic credit as an individual or student group volunteer.  In just one to three weeks, you gain the best “real life” educational understanding working directly with youth and families on our long-standing service programs. Change lives – yours and those you serve.

We’ve worked with over 100 academic institutions to engage high school, college and alumni groups in measurable and effective service-learning and for-credit opportunities. Partnering with a vast number of institutions such as the University of Minnesota Learning Abroad Office, we meet study abroad criteria. Join with friends, classmates, faculty and colleagues in a true adventure in service!  We encourage members of the LGBT student community to join us.

Spring break, J-term, summer vacation or gap year. Our real-world volunteer opportunities complement your college/university, high school, or career preparation, and significantly enhance your global perspective. Your student group can work within a class curriculum and/or meet a service-learning requirement. Academic credit can often be earned through independent study and research. We’ll certify your service-learning hours.  Don’t just meet your requirements; exceed your expectations.

Be The Change. Be a Global Volunteer.

student volunteering abroad

You contribute to projects rooted in the United Nations’ “essential package.” Teach conversational English, math, and other classroom subjects. Care for vulnerable and at-risk children in children’s homes and orphanages. Help construct and repair classrooms, community centers, and health clinics. Provide nutrition and health-care education and so much more. Through all, you witness the cultural sensitivity and global vision of comprehensive, sustainable development.  This is service.  Seriously.

We support and prepare you

  • Professional in-country staff and partners

  • On-site orientation and team-building sessions

  • 24-hour emergency phone contact

  • Emergency medical evacuation insurance

  • Volunteer fundraising assistance

  • Professional skills and work project interest questionnaire

  • Program summary materials and reading lists

  • Conversational English Teaching Guide

  • Global Volunteering Manual

  • Essential Services Prospectus

  • Language and cultural introductions

  • Hotel lodging in most partner communities

Fundraising, Discounts and Credits: We offer generous discounts and fundraising assistance.

  • Global Volunteers fundraising page Many volunteers raise funds for part or all of their service program fee from family members, colleagues and friends.
  • Apply for a matching gift through your or a family member’s current or former employer.
  • Apply for a scholarship from civic, religious, academic or non-profit organizations such as the Ambassadors Scholarship Foundation.
  • Student Discount – If you’re a full-time student, you receive $200 off your international fee or $50 off your USA fee with a current school ID and fee statement.
  • Refer a friend – We’ll credit you $100 toward your next service program fee for every volunteer you refer to us. Learn how here.
  • Group Discounts – You may be eligible for additional discounts as a group member or coordinator.  Contact our office for details.
Student volunteer opportunities worldwide.

College and University Students

college students assist labor projects in Tanzania

College and University Students: Apply your academic training on projects to help parents and local organizations deliver one or more of these 12 services:

  • Eradicating Hunger (1. School & Household Gardens, 2. Child Nutrition, 3. Micro-nutrient Supplementation, 4. Fuel Efficient Stoves)
  • Improving Health (5. Hygiene, Health and Nutrition Education, 6. Malaria and Dengue Fever Prevention, 7. De-worming, 8. HIV/AIDS Prevention)
  • Enhancing IQ – Cognition (9. General Education, 10. Girls’ Education, 11. Potable Water and Sanitation Facilities, 12. Psycho-social Support).

Nearly every undergraduate and graduate discipline is fully utilized for one, two or three weeks (longer in some countries if you choose) under the direction of local community partners.  Call, email or chat with us today – or request additional information on the many ways your skills are needed.

High School Students

High School students: Our SAT changes lives! “Students as Teachers” is a program to share your English language skills with students who need to improve theirs.  As the international language of commerce, technology and opportunity, English can be a passport out of poverty for children in developing communities. As a native speaker, you share your gift by helping other students to improve their English.  For their English teachers, English is a second language.  They teach grammar; you help with pronunciation, idioms, and the like through conversations, games, songs, skits, and formal lessons. Our Conversational English Teaching Guide is filled with lesson plans and exercises – so you can “teach like a pro.”

You can also assist with labor projects, play with babies, tutor math, or read to pre-schoolers.  If you have the ambition, we have the project!

high school group teach English in India

Group Coordinators and School Administrators

Students work together in Costa Rica

Student Group Coordinators: We take care of the logistical work, so you and your students can focus on serving and learning:

Service Learning: Our programs offer your students genuine opportunities to work with and learn from and about local people. Whether it’s helping deliver the UN-prescribed 12 essential services, or teaching conversational English, your students will make a difference in the lives of the children they serve as well as their own.

Dates: Join one of our standard, regularly scheduled programs, or propose program dates to meet your academic needs. You can request an exclusive group program or serve with other volunteers.

One free: We waive the service program fee for one faculty/staff coordinator with each intact group of 10 students.

Group discounts: Your students can add a discount to the standard student discount on most programs.

Air arrangements: Our air travel partner, AST Travel, can make all flight arrangements at competitive rates.

Logistics: We take care of everything from the time you land in the host country until you depart for home.  All meals, lodging, ground transportation, orientation to the community, community work project assignments, and safety and security measures are managed by our staff. Our country manager and/or team leader guides your group every day – except during your selected free-time activities.

“We experienced more than I ever thought we could in one week. This is a great way for a group to get to know another culture. I have visited a number of reservations over the years and have worked with people on a number of them. These have been among the most meaningful and beneficial experiences in my life.” 

Gary SandefurProfessor of Sociology, UW Madison Member, Chickasaw Nation

“I realized how my contribution made up a piece of the relationship between the United States and India … and how, when combined with other (volunteers) it’s very influential. This experience gave me a unique and unparalleled educational growth, especially at such a formative point in my life. It definitely will affect my future career plans.”

Sara MarleyIndia student volunteer

“This experience reiterated the importance of service in my life. I now look into traveling that includes volunteering. I hope to bring more college students on Global Volunteers programs. If more people took the time to understand each other’s perspectives, before voicing their own, the world might be a bit more friendly.”

Christy Heaton Associate Director for Orientation and First Year Student Success, University of New Orleans

“Since my Global Volunteers program in Tanzania, I have given talks on the experience throughout the world highlighting the positive contributions your organizations makes.  Thank you for all you and Global Volunteers is doing.”

John AlsupProfessor, Black Hills State University

“It was one of the best weeks of my life. I really enjoyed learning about the Blackfeet culture and getting to know the people. I was happy to help out in the community wherever I was needed, and could not have asked for a better team. I hope to participate in more Global Volunteers trips in my future. My program was amazing!”

Ally ShatzMontana student volunteer

“The program allowed me to re-assess what’s truly important. I taught children who barely had clothes covering their bodies who were happy and laughing. Their smiles were the largest things about them. A warm smile truly transcends any language barriers and creates memories that linger long after the experience has ended.”

Dana Starace-NastasiTanzania volunteer

“This week has been a gift to me. The people I’ve met and gotten to know are a gift to me. I can only say thank you. The things that we are capable of doing for other people shouldn’t be done simply because we feel we should be good, or we feel we should ‘give back.’ It seems to me that everyone here is creating a world of good simply by living outside of their boxes.”

Hannah Baker-SirotyMontana student volunteer

Learn from other Student Volunteers

Read and listen to student volunteers’ description of their service-learning experience: