Volunteering either as part of a course or on your own helps foster social participation and responsibility. It’s also the perfect opportunity to strengthen community ties, bring about positive social change and form solid partnerships. Many volunteer opportunities are available, on campus, around Ottawa or abroad.
Community engagement programs
Help others while helping yourself! Show future employers who you really are. Express your drive to change the world by putting what you learn in the classroom to good use as a volunteer.
1,700+
volunteer placements as part of a course
3,100+
extracurricular volunteering placements
115K+
volunteer hours logged in 2020-2021
Community Service Learning (CSL) program
Did you know that you can replace course assignments with professor-approved volunteer placements?
The CSL program involves credited learning experiences as part of a course. If CSL is available for your class, you can take part in structured volunteer activities that meet a community need. Then, you can engage in critical reflection on what you’ve learned, to increase your understanding of the class material and your field of study.
Benefits
- Apply theory to everyday situations
- Increase understanding of class content through practical experience
- Make a difference by getting involved in the community
- Gain transferable skills and real-world experience
CSL Headlines
CSL

CSL
CSL placement gets student talking to soup kitchen visitors
Roslin Sinclair is completing her final term of a bachelor’s in history at uOttawa. One of her courses has been CDN4100 (Perspective-taking in Policy …
CSL

CSL
Are you jumping to get involved in your community?
Volunteering can really open doors. Just ask Élyse Normand, a fourth-year human kinetics student. Élyse, who has been an elite athlete for several yea…
CSL

CSL
Making a difference, in French
Thanks to their volunteer work in the francophone community, Shelby, Rougui and Erin and have managed to do more than just prepare for their careers!
Participating in a CSL placement?
Extracurricular volunteering
Extracurricular volunteering placements are completed on your own time and aren’t part of a course. Placements can be on- or off-campus. Your time commitment can vary from one day to several months, depending on the community partner’s needs.
See the volunteer opportunities and programs available at uOttawa to find one that’s right for you!
See the volunteer opportunities and programs available at uOttawa to find one that’s right for you!
Extracurricular volunteering headlines
Extracurricular volunteering

Extracurricular volunteering
International student integrates through community engagement
Sunny Verma, a masters of electrical and computer engineering student, left his home country, India, this August to complete his last year of study a…
Extracurricular volunteering

Extracurricular volunteering
Working all week and volunteering on the weekend!
Darius Stamatakos, a first-year biopharmaceutical science student, already has a very impressive CV. In addition to doing his assignments, labs and ex…
Extracurricular volunteering

Extracurricular volunteering
Student perspective: Rougui Bah, Sociology
Bachelor of Sociology with minor in Social Work (2019), currently doing her Master’s in Sociology, she talks to us about her volunteer placements with…