The University of Otago is about to launch an initiative to get more students volunteering in the Dunedin community.
The university will open a student volunteering centre later this year, to match students with local voluntary organisations, and has begun advertising for a full-time staff member to co-ordinate the initiative.
It will be based in the university's career development centre. Vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said the initiative complimented the strong commitment university staff had to volunteering.
''This new initiative is not about making students do something. It is about asking them to join us in something we already do,'' Prof Hayne said.
Otago University Students' Association president Francisco Hernandez applauded the establishment of the centre.
''It is such a positive way to get students giving back to their community,'' he said.
