Eligibility to do a Volunteer Internship on F1

[sindhunkashyap]

I am a Graduate Student and started studying at a public university in the US in Fall 2014. I started my studies on H4 and converted to F1 before my second semester started. My university requires a student to be on F1 for two full semesters to be eligible for CPT. Since I did not qualify for this policy, I applied and got a volunteer internship for this Summer. This involves me to work with an NGO as a Software Engineer, which concerns the course I am currently studying. I am not paid for this internship as it is an NGO. Do I need any kind of work authorization from my university to work for this NGO? Please confirm and help.

[JoeF]

First off, is that CPT or pre-completion OPT?

CPT is ONLY for work as an integral part of the curriculum, e.g., as a required internship for a course.

For CPT, it is not enough that it is related to your coursework. It has to be required for the course.

And of course you need to get the authorization from the university to do any kind of work outside of the university.