During the past couple of years, public discussion on sustainability has shifted. The question is no longer whether we need to take action but where do we need to start. Around the world, universities have started to commit themselves to sustainability. To see what action the University of Oulu is taking, we interviewed the Sustainability Planning Officer Anni Huovinen.
Anni Huovinen is a project manager and planning officer for the university’s sustainability projects. The first of her kind, she explains her position to be a person dedicated to sustainability activities and public relations.
One of Huovinen’s tasks has been to design a sustainability website where different kinds of projects, research, and events are presented to the public. She has also invested in a campus-wide event: the Sustainable Development Week.
The idea for the week came from the Advisory Board of Sustainable Development. It was co-organized together with TellUs and the Student Union OYY. The purpose of the week was to raise awareness and to create a campus-wide discussion and an atmosphere towards sustainable development.
The university launched the Sustainable Development Week on October 7th to 9th, 2019. According to Huovinen, this was the first time that the university had a week focused entirely on sustainability.
“It’s a broad enough topic to easily have a sustainability month with events every day,” she comments.
The week-long event breathed life into the campus via a series of panel discussions, workshops, documentary viewing, and an NGO fair.
Anni Huovinen says the planning started back in April. There was no previous experience or structures, and they had a limited budget to work with.
In the end, the Week’s planning team incorporated various themes and perspectives into the schedule. For example, OYY proposed perspectives from the Global South in many events, the documentary “The Chocolate Case” as an example.
The Advisory Board of Sustainable Development helped by bringing guest speakers from different sectors, such as the Finnish Environment Institute, other universities and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Time for feedback
One of the events was “Rector’s Coffee Break” with Jouko Niinimäki, the Rector of The university. There all campus members had the opportunity to learn about and discuss issues in sustainability with the rector. The purpose was to channel feedback and demands for sustainable change from bottom to top.
During the session, a feedback board was set up to directly collect students’ concerns, wishes, demands, or opinions. At the end, 136 notes were collected and later delivered to the rector himself.
The event came at a good time, since the Strategy of the University of Oulu for the upcoming 4 years is currently being designed. The new Strategywill update the current one and starts its 4-year-term in 2020.
What kind of holistic actions the Strategy implies for sustainability is to be seen. However we can see the university’s ambition towards “sustainable development in the north” and emphasis on “the sustainable use of natural resources” already.
In this regard, we can expect more action to be taken as the university has started collaborating with the Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oulu UAS) for common sustainability goals. There are also plans on installing the university’s own solar panels.
The university’s role
Why is sustainability an issue at universities?
“Universities have great responsibility and agency. They have a lot of power outside the organization,” Anni Huovinen says.
She explains that universities affect the world in many ways.
Firstly, the universities accommodate thousands of people including students, faculty, and staff. Secondly, they educate future teachers, citizens, leaders, and consumers. Thirdly, they influence local communities and industries through research and collaboration.
“The university’s values get passed on to people. In that way have a very wide reach in different sectors in society”, Huovinen says.
She gives an example of a recent event: the Student Union of the University of Helsinki announced that beef would no longer be included in the meals served in all the Ylva’s UniCafes.The goal was to reduce carbon footprint in food consumption.
Soon after, a plethora of news articles covering this issue was published. The case reaching audiences nationwide and created a chain of discussions on meat consumption. This also prompted Uniresta, a restaurant provider in Oulu, to respond.
Huovinen explains that besides having influence on discussion and setting examples in societies, universities also affect policy-making decisions through scientific research.
According to Huovinen, our current society often views universities as useful to the economic system, with the goal to make our GDP grow. However, from this point of view, the additional societal and philosophical purpose of universities might be overlooked and sacrificed. She thinks the purpose and impact of universities needs to be looked into.
“We should talk more about the role of universities in our society. Are we here to make the economy grow? Is that the purpose of future professionals?”
Individual responsibility in sustainability and coming together
Just as universities can open a nation-wide discussion, individuals together can open a university-wide discussion. In a setting where people often find themselves willing to help but unsure where to start, grass-roots activity can help.
The university’s Advisory Board aims to mobilise different university stakeholders to take action on sustainability, and propose constructive policies to the university’s management team. Currently, open meetings are held on an irregular basis, where all students are encouraged and welcome to join.
The Sustainability Week inspired even the person arranging it, Anni Huovinen. The speech by Arto O. Salonen gave her a new perpective.
“The discussion around sustainability is often focused on the challenge that we can’t let go of our lifestyle: we can’t let go of our cars, and we want to buy a new cell phone every year. I found hope in Salonen’s idea that you are getting a more meaningful life when you let go of things. You become more sustainable and get closer to where you want to be,” she says. Just as many of us feel hopeless or powerless when being confronted with environmental crises, Huovinen feels the same. Constantly confronting sustainability and the hard facts about climate change sometimes get to her. However there is hope, and what makes her hopeful is a new empowered generation willing to push for a change. “The new generation have a very different view on consuming. They grew up in a new paradigm, where we can not continue living in certain ways, even though they might be seen as normal in our society.”
Ending note from the writers:
We as students want to add that we hope to see concrete action by the university to fight climate change. This can mean increasing teaching about climate change and sustainability issues, creating more opportunities for collective action, unifying stakeholders through creative ways, and reducing the university’s operation carbon footprint.
At the same time, we also appeal to all our peers to become active. Find ways to get involved with larger groups that are working for sustainable development. In the end, all of us together create the sustainable changes we want to see in the environmental, social, and economic systems.
Written by Thea Yan Pan and Filip Polák
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Thea Yan Pan
Studying in the Education and Globalisation program. Originally from China and currently interested in collaborating with students from different faculties to make our university more sustainable.
Whether you are a Finnish citizen yourself or just a student in the Nordic coldness, you are probably familiar with two of the most common reactions from foreigners: “Oh Finland, is the schooling system really so amazing?” and “Oh Finland, is the language really so difficult?”
We discuss with lecturer Anne Koskela and three students from the University of Oulu, whether Finnish truly is as challenging as it is often portrayed.
Amaya Garcia Márquez is currently in Oulu for an exchange period from Spain. She says she came to have a new Finnish experience. She has already lived in Finland for approximately 10 months altogether and holds a B2 language certificate. In 2015, in her last year of high school, she was offered a scholarship and asked to put in order countries she would like to go for an exchange to by preference. She listed Finland as her number one, leaving the second place to South Africa.
“It was a feeling of connection, even though I did not know much about Finland. I arrived on the 21st of August [in 2015] without speaking a single word and school started on the 23rd of August completely in Finnish.”
Offering a view from a different learning level, a student who has recently made the first step and started studying the language is Alexander Csepregi. He is from a geographically distant yet linguistically rather close Hungary and currently coaches basketball and studies at our university.
As he says, he is new to the country and to the language, currently being able to use simple phrases and introduce himself in Finnish. He mentions that Hungarians see Finns as their distant brothers living in the cold, yet he doesn’t consider the language similar sounding.
“A friend of mine from Hungary bought a house way up north and he has met some Sami people and heard them speak. He told me he felt like he was listening to Hungarian, except he could not understand, which was apparently a strange experience. On the other hand, he agreed with me that Finnish doesn’t sound like Hungarian to us at all.”
Waldo Seppä offers yet another distinct perspective on the topic of Finnish learning. Introducing himself as “German speaking South African with a Finnish father” might suggest why that is. Waldo Seppä mentions that his level of fluency truly depends on the period of his life we are discussing about, since his life in Finland and moving in and out of the country
“In South Africa I’m always the ‘Finn’, and in Finland I’m always the ‘South African’. My relationship with Finnish has always been up and down. Apparently, my dad even used to speak to me in Finnish when I was very young, yet I don’t remember this.”
For us to better understand what the Finnish language classroom looks like from the other side of the teacher’s table, we turned to university lecturer Anne Koskela for a few questions. She isn’t a new name to neither Finns nor students from abroad, since she teaches the Finnish language both as a native and as a second language.
After graduating from the University of Oulu, Anne Koskela gained her first experience with teaching Finnish as a second language to adult refugees. Afterwards, she taught foreigners in general, in a course preparing them for a professional life in Finland. Later, she found her way into teaching at the university as well and is still on that path.
Is Finnish really that difficult? Yes and no
“Of course, we, the Finnish teachers, don’t want to say Finnish is hard,” Anne Koskela says.
According to her, seeing Finnish as different rather than difficult is a better approach. The language is indeed not part of the Indo-European group, which is unusual for Europe. While she mentions thatlearners from Hungary may have a slight advantage with understanding the language structures, the favor is still rather small and the speakers may still struggle in other aspects. Additionally, coming from a language differentiating short and long sounds may help as well.
However, where Anne Koskela sees the biggest advantage is having a learning experience.
“I think it is also a question of learning strategies and learning itself. If you already have experience with language learning and have studied other foreign languages before, it makes it easier to learn Finnish as well.”
“The difference between spoken and written language plays a big role in what makes it difficult.”
Alexander Csepregi confirms the previous ideas by mentioning that the Finnish language logic is not strange to him as a Hungarian, and he indeed finds the separate sounds similar, which he considers an advantage. Being an agglutinative language, also Hungarian is capable of building unusually long words via affixes. He mentions that occasionally he translates his Finnish materials to Hungarian rather than English, since it makes more sense.
However, with vocabulary his background brings him only a minimal advantage. Additionally, Alexander Csepregi finds another aspect of Finnish troublesome.
“The difference between spoken and written language plays a big role in what makes it difficult. Sometimes my colleagues, other basketball teachers, text each other, and not even Google translate recognizes the sentences they write.”
Similarly, Waldo Seppä looked at both sides of the coin of his learning process.
On one hand, he appreciates the straightforwardness of Finnish. He compares it to English and French, where a learner has to memorize the use of prepositions in various cases, while in Finnish one can quickly start logically building the words together. However, that also brings challenges.
“The difficulty comes when you get a crazy long word, and you are just… clueless. What is also hard is when you start getting into very complex grammar. But that part, the advanced grammar, is what makes Finnish so difficult, and people tend to focus on that.”
While he mentions that he doesn’t see this advanced grammar as crucial for getting fluent, he understandingly concludes that he can see why people would call Finnish a hard language.
According to lecturer Anne Koskela, it’s better to see Finnish as different rather than difficult.
Courses as a platform to speak
Amaya Garcia Márquez surprises many people with her level of fluency after a short time in Finland, however, she can definitely remember and see the strenuous side of the language as well. She speaks English, French, Finnish, and Spanish and mentions that Finnish is very distant from the other three. Especially in the beginning she found the learning as demotivating.
“I had moments when I felt frustrated with myself for not being able to learn Finnish, and I thought I would never speak it. That was the hardest part, the mental side, the frustration,” she says.
Amaya Garcia Márquez points out she has learned most of what she currently knows by using the language. However, when her peers during her high school exchange year had Finnish classes, she had sessions with a Finnish teacher. Besides getting learning recommendations, she considers the biggest advantage being the fact that the teacher would never switch to English and continued talking to her in her target language. In time, she picked up more and more vocabulary that she started trying to put into sentences. She mentions that she never studied grammar per se, and therefore usually recognizes instinctively whether a sentence sounds correct or not.
“That was the hardest part, the mental side, the frustration.”
On her road from a beginner to being mistaken for a person from Turku, Amaya Garcia Márquez was driven by her motivation.
“I wanted to learn. I wanted to belong to the place. All my friends would talk Finnish during lunch, and even though they talked to me in English, I wanted to have the feeling of understanding the world around me.”
Waldo Seppä, who has attended several Finnish courses in the past, currently attends the “Opettajaksi Suomeen” course at our university. However, what he considers the main advantage is the opportunity to speak and practice, since he often found himself gravitating towards the English speaking circles while in Finland.
“Courses really provide an opportunity, where you are really speaking Finnish, and you have a person that is always there to help you. Also, after my first two years in Finland, I found myself being professional at answering questions about where I am from and introducing myself. In a Finnish course you always get the chance to speak about different topics as well.”
“However, knowing friends that have learnt Finnish, I know it is possible and extremely fulfilling.”
Seppä is not the only one who sees the Finnish courses as a positive experience. Alexander Csepregi happily concludes he recently finished the “Survival Finnish” course offered at our university. He is currently taking “Beginner’s Finnish” and mentions it is mostly in official Finnish, and sometimes the puhekieli versions of words are mentioned. The spoken language is, in fact, what he considers the biggest learning challenge. What he appreciates about the courses is the foundations they offer him.
Alexander Csepregi says his plan is to keep taking courses until he fails a final exam from one of them. While he is currently not sure how far that will get him, being in first year of his English bachelor’s program in Oulu, he dreams of high goals.
“It would be incredible to learn it [Finnish] fluently. I have Finnish friends, and if I would just show up and speak it, their jaws would drop. I would love to impress them like that,” Alexander Csepregi says, and adds that “if you want to learn a language just to add it to your resume, pick a different one. However, knowing friends that have learnt Finnish, I know it is possible and extremely fulfilling.”
Anne Koskela has a unique insight into learning the language, as both native and foreign. She mentions that the two categories of learning are not completely different. In the beginning, the foreign learners obviously focus on snowballing vocabulary, with time they start to practice topics similar to the ones offered in the Finnish language courses for natives studying for their master’s programs.
“In the conversation course, there are speaking exercises in different situations, for example, in working life. In other courses, we also write academic writing with the students. Both of those we practice with Finnish students as well.”
With Finnish being depicted as a difficult language, hearing that the Finnish students practice similar things in the compulsory communication courses may be motivating for foreigners who are learning Finnish.
Getting over the fear
Waldo Seppä, being further down the road of cracking the code of the Finnish language, has an additional advice as well.
“I can not stress this enough: learn vocabulary. Start talking like a three-year-old. You think you sound stupid, but that is how you learn. The more words you know, the more you can follow the conversation around you, and if you don’t know a word, write it down. Finally, don’t be afraid to speak. You’re going to make mistakes a lot and you know that is okay,” he explains and gives an example: “if someone is trying to learn your native language, and they speak it to you, you don’t care if they sound odd. People need to get over the fear of making mistakes. A three-year-old often makes mistakes too, but they will learn the language faster because they don’t care. Just practice.”
“Just go ahead and try. Even though in some moments you will feel down because you don’t understand, and a single word has 6 different meanings, and you feel like you can never learn the language. But you do not need a complete proficiency to speak and understand. Just go for it, it is not impossible, and it connects you with the culture, and people here feel happy and proud when you speak the language,” Amaya Garcia Márquez says.
All interviewed students agree on the fact that getting to speak the language is a massive advantage of each course.
Anne Koskela also agrees with the point and encourages the students to not be afraid of mistakes, and to not be afraid of speaking to Finns. Additionally, she shares a message for the natives as well.
Similarly to getting to speak in the courses, the natives can help their peers improve their skills simply by speaking with them.
“It is important from our side, that we do not switch immediately to English when we see they are just learning. Sometimes we want to be polite and switch to English, and maybe even because we want to practice our English skills with foreigners. I understand it is easier to operate in English in some situations, but it could be a decision that you could talk together for 5 or 10 minutes during lunch break in Finnish.”
A Slovak from a tiny village near the Hungarian borders who studies in the Intercultural Teacher Education programme here in Oulu. He is working on improving his Finnish, hoping to one day obtain a C2 certificate. In his free time he likes to put his thoughts down on paper or screen.
The Board of Directors of the University of Oulu will decide next week if it begins a property strategy analysis.
The review has three options: maintaining the current building stock, partial demolition and reconstruction at the current campuses, and new construction near the city centre of Oulu. The analysis evaluates the financial, functional, and societal impacts of the different options.
Especially the third option has raised discussion: would the University really move from Linnanmaa?
The Board of Directors of the University of Oulu will decide next week if it begins a property strategy analysis.
The aim of the analysis is to find “financially sustainable, long-term university property solutions that support the university’s operations.”
The analysis has three options: maintaining the current building stock, partial demolition and reconstruction of the current buildings on the current campuses, and new construction near the city centre of Oulu. The analysis evaluates financial, functional and societal impacts of all the alternatives.
Especially the third option has raised discussion: would the University really move from Linnanmaa?
The campus is getting older, costs are increasing
The bulletin by the University and an article in the newspaper Kaleva that broke the story state that the primary reason for the proposed analysis is the high cost of rent the University is paying for the properties.
According to the bulletin, property costs are the second largest expense item for the University, after personnel costs.
The announcement also says that based on preliminary findings, “the rent level of the renovated Linnanmaa premises may be higher than the market rent of corresponding premises in the area.” Therefore, new construction might be a more financially viable option. The University also thinks that new construction would improve the energy efficiency of the premises and sustainable use of resources. The University premises at both Linnanmaa and Kontinkangas campuses are owned by University Properties of Finland Ltd (Suomen Yliopistokiinteistöt oy, SYK).
Rector Jouko Niinimäki is proposing starting the evaluation. He says that the individual increments of rental prices by SYK are not the reason for the proposed analysis.
“Rents are always going up, that is not the direct reason for the analysis, but rather the general direction we know the rents will be heading towards. Now we have renovated plenty of spaces, and from experience we can tell how the rental prices are going to behave. So, we have not had any notification from SYK, rather this is a solution that has grown over time”, says Niinimäki in our interview.
The Chief Financial Officer of the University Pekka Riuttanen says that the University pays around 26 million euros annually in rental costs for the premises. Roughly 17 million is from the Linnanmaa campus.
“As a whole, the number of spaces we have has decreased radically over the years. Scaling down the premises has been a way for the University to keep the property costs acceptable. At the moment, we feel like we cannot downscale more, and the costs for the premises will only increase.”
According to Riuttanen, one of the main reasons for the increase in property cost is due to Linnanmaa being an old campus, and there are plenty of areas that need renovation in the future.
“The increase in property costs is money away from research and education. That is something we do not want, quite the opposite: we want to invest into research and education.”
Sanna Sianoja, the CEO of the University Properties of Finland, says that the company takes the feedback from the University of Oulu seriously.
“The principle is that we offer affordable spaces for the University. We want to be involved in developing things forward with the University, and in thinking how we can resolve this situation. It is not in our interest to offer overpriced spaces.”
Is the rent level for the spaces in Linnanmaa higher than the market price for the area, as the bulletin says?
According to Sianoja, there is not a clear answer to the question.
“Of course, I have heard the message and received the feedback. I cannot say without a doubt one way or the other. The largest thing is that if a thing such as this is brought forward, we want to investigate the causes. We want to serve our customer as well as possible.”
SYK owns, builds, and develops building stock for higher education institutes outside the capital region of Finland. The company is co-owned by nine universities outside the Helsinki area along with the State of Finland. The University of Oulu has a 10.41 % share of ownership.
Two years ago, YLE published an article regarding the property costs. Even back then Niinimäki noted that he believed the property costs for the University were “higher than the market rent in the surrounding area.” According to the article, both the Chief Financial Officers of the University of Vaasa and the LUT University also thought that the rents charged by SYK are high.
Has there been feedback about the property costs from other universities?
“It is hard to say. Naturally, we have discussions with the organisations who rent our spaces regarding the rental costs and how they compare to the surrounding areas. Of course, we understand that for the user the space is an expense, and that provokes discussion,” Sianoja says.
Time to pack things again?
The Chair of the Board of the Student Union of the University of Oulu (OYY) Miriam Putula says that the Student Union is observing the situation.
“This [proposal by the rector] is a good starter for conversations, and I hope students are involved in it as well. As a student, I want the solutions to benefit the students. If the prices by SYK are too high and we cannot have enough resources for research and education, something must change. The University cannot spend too much money on the properties.”
Putula says that the Student Union has met with student representatives in charge of educational affairs from the umbrella guilds of the University. According to her, the news about the possible changes has caused some concerns.
“Are we going to have to move again? As everything has been concentrated to Linnanmaa, what would happen to the housing, cycling, and bus lines in the area? Would this proposed move stop all the development in the area?”
Did the proposal by the University come as a surprise for the Student Union?
“There has been speculation for a long time, as there have been discussion on the high level on property costs, and that they affect the basic functions of the faculties. But the proposal for the analysis itself was a surprise. I had to do a double take as I picked up the newspaper Kaleva in the morning.”
Talks of co-operation at Kontinkangas
The analysis mentions possibilities for renovating both the campus at Linnanmaa and Kontinkangas, partial demolition and rebuilding of the current building stock, and building something new at a new location near the city centre of Oulu.
Even though the relocation would go forward, Niinimäki says the move would not concern the Kontinkangas campus. “It is natural for the campus to be at Kontinkangas, it would not be relocated.”
But does the University aim to have a shared higher education institute campus at Kontinkangas as well?
The University has two faculties at Kontinkangas (Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine as well as the Faculty of Medicine) while the Oulu University of Applied Sciences has social and health care education at Kiviharjuntie. Oulu UAS and the University are already collaborating in Dentopolis that was opened in September 2017, as the dentist students of the University and the dental hygienist students of Oulu UAS are working together there.
“In a way, we already are on a common campus, as the area is large, and it has the University, Oulu UAS, and the hospital. But we need to think about their locations in relation to one another,” says Niinimäki.
“At Kontinkangas, [the main building of the Faculty of Medicine] Kieppi and Dentopolis represent new and high-quality building stock. But for example, the premises of Tellus Kontinkangas and the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine are starting to approach the end of their lifecycle. Some decisions need to be made about them,” Niinimäki muses.
Jouko Paaso, the Rector of the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, notes that the collaboration between the higher education institutes at Kontinkangas has been discussed already. “Yes, it has been brought forward, as we are part of the same concern, a functional co-operation would be natural. Preliminary discussions have been had, now we are continuing those and thinking if shared premises would be a good solution.”
Paaso emphasises that no concrete plans have been made yet.
“The number of students in the area is large, we have more than 2,000 social and health care students there. One cannot do this in a jiffy, but we must ponder what areas could we co-operate on.”
“Oulu UAS would not be left alone”
What would be the role of the Oulu University of Applied Sciences in the possible change?
Oulu UAS decided on relocation to the Linnanmaa campus in October 2016. The campuses from Teuvo Pakkala and Kotkantie are moving to the Linnamaa campus during the year 2020.
The University of Oulu owns a majority of the stock of Oulu UAS, and the two higher education institutes belong to the same concern. At the moment, the institutes are planning how to organise shared services. Rector Jouko Niinimäki is also the Chair of the Board of Oulu UAS.
According to Jouko Niinimäki, the management of the University of Applied Sciences has been made aware of the discussions held last week. The Board of Oulu UAS was sent a bulletin yesterday, and the staff has been notified today on intranet.
“Of course, Oulu UAS would not be left alone. If we decide on relocation, the University of Applied Sciences would be included in the plans from the very beginning. Oulu UAS is an independent entity that will make its own decisions. We will place no team orders for Oulu UAS.”
“The question is about extremely long-term things, basically a strategy for the next 20 years. For sure, the first movements of it would start rather soon. The possible relocation of Oulu UAS would happen near the end of this strategic period.”
Jouko Paaso, the Rector of the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, says that Oulu UAS has no need to renegotiate the rental costs. Oulu UAS has a twenty-year rental agreement on properties at Linnanmaa.
“At the end of 2017, we made a rental agreement that included renovations according to our needs. Back then and during the tendering process we had negotiations, and we think we reached a reasonable price which we though matched the general prices in the Linnanmaa area. There has not been a need to reopen the discussions [on rental prices].”
“Though I do understand that as the University has renovated spaces, the increase in rental costs has been seen as too high. From the perspective of someone who organises the education, this is a difficult task as the resources should be aimed at something else than the increasing property costs.”
According to Paaso, the Oulu UAS staff has been informed that the relocation to Linnanmaa proceeds as planned. The property strategy analysis can have an impact on Oulu UAS premises, but only in the long term.
What would be left if the University leaves?
In preparation for the relocation of Oulu UAS there has been a great deal of improvements in the Linnanmaa area. In preparation for the increased amount of people and traffic in the area, public transportation, cycling routes, and student housing have all been improved. In addition to improvements in cycling routes and bus lines, the brand of the campus area has also been developed. In August, the Board of the City of Oulu accepted an overall framework of the area that acts as an unofficial and guiding document between a master plan and street plan of the area.
What effect would the possible relocation of the University have on Linnanmaa?
According to Jouko Niinimäki, the area would maintain its importance: the area is relatively close to the city centre, it has good traffic connections, and the Technopolis Science Park is next to it. He reminds that if the decision to relocate happens, it will be done gradually.
“If the change were to occur, other activity would take our place, and this activity would support the employment in the area,” Niinimäki says.
“The city decides which direction they want to develop the area. A lengthy timeframe guarantees that the area would have positive new functions.”
The University of Oulu has had “preliminary discussions” with the City of Oulu, says Jouko Niinimäki.
“We have been involved with people from planning, especially [Director of Urban and Environmental Services] Matti Matinheikki, Mayor Päivi Laajala, and the Chair of City Board Kyösti Oikarinen. The end result has been that the plan is worth investigating.”
Why was the information put out now? Jouko Niinimäki says the Board of Directors of the University has had “free-form discussions” on the matter previously.
“The issue came naturally on the agenda, there is no special reason why it popped up just now. As the agenda for the next board meeting goes public today, we want to inform people ourselves, and also to control rumours.”
Jouko Niinimäki says that there have not been any decisions made on who would pay for the possible new construction. “We are not that far yet; we have not even decided are we building something new or not.”
“But if one has to speculate, I would guess that we would partly take a loan, and partly use our own money for the construction.”
The Linnanmaa campus has also had its share of moves within the University. Within a few years the architecture students moved from the city centre to Linnanmaa, and the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Education relocated inside the campus building.
Do the rental agreements enable moving away from Linnanmaa?
“Naturally we aim that we stay put until the rental agreements are up”, says Niinimäki. According to him, the campus has a wide variety of rental agreements in place: some could be discontinued immediately, some have a rental period of a few years, and some are rather long.
“We have looked both at the map and the rental agreements, and the proposed move would be feasible. On the financial side, we have also made some rough calculations. All three options are economically viable, none of them are impossible or just wishy-washiness.”
The Board of Directors of the University of Oulu will discuss starting the property strategy analysis in their meeting on the 20th of November.
It has been 60 years since the first opening ceremony of the University of Oulu. The University did not have a one shared space during the initial years. The proposed location of the campus had plenty of options, from Sanginsuu to Virpiniemi, and even near the city centre in the region of Hupisaaret. The construction of the Linnanmaa campus began in the early 1970s, and continued all the way into the 2000s, when the Tietotalo segment near the administrational wing was completed.
Translation: Kalle Parviainen
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Anni Hyypiö
Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Twitter: @AnniHyypio
University of Oulu has about 1,900 students every year who use English as their primary studying language. This includes exchange students, international degree students and postgraduate students.
But how well does the University meet the needs of its English speaking students? Anca M. Catana discusses the issue.
I don’t know how often you heard this statement from lecturers during your studies at the University of Oulu, but during my 3 years of studying the Intercultural Teacher Education (ITE) programme I heard it, a lot!
Short answer: no, they can’t. And that is not because they don’t possess the skills. Most of them do.
But is it really their job to do that? Are they rewarded for it somehow? Or are they eventually losing more than gaining by doing this?
Let’s start with the first question: Is it really my classmates’ job to translate the lesson content or the instructions of the assignments to us? If we think about professional interpreters, they usually have studies in the field and their earning starts from 40 euros per hour.
Do my classmates have the same level of education? Not really. Are they receiving any financial reward near that? Nope.
Actually, the amount of information that reaches everyone in this manner is problematic. The ‘helpful classmate’ will probably lose a good share of the lecture. And the part that is finally reaching us is probably less than half.
The result is a lose-lose situation for everybody: our classmates, us and the teachers who don’t get to do their job as well as they would like to.
How much is the teachers’ responsibility?
I occasionally hear fellow international students complain about teachers and teaching. Of course it is tempting to blame those whose job is to make sure that their classes are accessible and inclusive.
On the other hand, based on my experience, teachers often blame the limited number of contact lessons, the cutting of the funds or the general decisions made at a higher level for the difficulties encountered by the foreign students.
From my perspective, in the Faculty of Education at least, teachers face different challenges. Based on those, they could be divided into three categories: the ones teaching exclusively in Finnish, the ones teaching exclusively in English and the ones teaching both in Finnish and English.
The first two categories are probably doing fine most of the time. Teachers prepare the content of the lesson in one language and deliver it as many times as necessary. What occasionally happens is that the non-Finnish speaking students have to take part in the Finnish-taught classes or the other way around. The most common reason is that they missed the lesson conducted in English/Finnish and now they have to make up for it. Both Finnish-speaking and English-speaking students seem to suffer in this situation and extra support is offered only sometimes.
The third category of teachers is probably more challenged due to the fact that besides preparing the material in one language, the teacher has to prepare it once more in a second language. Is that the same amount of work as for teachers in categories one and two? Nope, I’d say it’s at least double the work. Are teachers rewarded enough for all the extra effort? Probably not, considering their commitment shown during the lessons.
In the Faculty of Education alone, there are some 45 international students admitted annually to the Masters and ITE programmes and the number is doubled by the number of exchange students.
The situation affects the international students in different ways. For example, I’ve noticed that some of the teachers who conduct their lessons both in English and Finnish seem to be less motivated or less resourceful when teaching the English version. Moreover summer courses are scarce (only two of them are held in English), optional courses are rarely offered in English, and for the ITE students it’s a challenge to find a Minor Subject. Under these circumstances, the option of joining a class taught in Finnish comes at hand. The teachers will most likely welcome you. But even if they are well intended, they frequently lack the instruments needed to save you from drowning.
Are there any solutions?
One easy way to solve the language problem would include not having any international students without Finnish skills, at all.
However, we’re still aiming for an international, multilingual, multicultural, inclusive university, right? Not to forget the tuition fees that range from 10,000 to 13,000 euros.
If we’re really aiming for an international university, these positive expressions should be acted upon, not just left to decorate university’s web site and posters.
Going back to ‘Can your classmates translate this for you?’, even though the way it happens today doesn’t really work, the basic idea could still be used in another form.
What about inviting students from the English philology programme, or any other students who feel up to the task, to act as semi-professional interpreters, but in a more organised and rewarding way? It would be essential that the students in question are not registered to that respective course, so they don’t have to learn the content they need to translate. They should also be rewarded somehow, either by credits or by payment.
Teachers could help by handing out a summary of the lesson to the interpreter before the actual lesson, or they could simply speak at a slower pace.
Here’s couple of other ways in which the teachers can help their non-Finnish speaking students catch up with what is happening. They can write clearly and explicitly in English what the assignments to that course are and how it is assessed, because in the end that is what hurts us the most. Even making a list with key-terms in English and Finnish might be a useful tool for teachers, Finnish and non-Finnish students alike.
Regarding the teachers, I’d say one of the major things is that they need more support in delivering their lessons to their non-Finnish speaking students. It’s not only my personal opinion, but what other fellow non-Finnish students I encountered suggest.
Supporting the development of staff’s English skills is a long-term investment from which everyone will benefit.
Secondly, there should be reward for those lecturers who do extra work when having English-speaking students in the Finnish-taught classes, or who teach in two or more languages, even if the lesson content is the same.
I still remember the situation I witnessed during my very first weeks of studies at this University. An exchange student ran out of the class crying, because the class was taught completely in Finnish. She was supposed to take it as part of her study agreement, and the class was supposed to be designed for international students.
What I truly believe is that with the right effort, time and financial investment and a bit of courage and interest situations like that could be avoided in the future.
Then the University of Oulu could indeed become ‘a model of multiculturalism’ as the Rector Jouko Niinimäki wrote on his blog on March 1st 2019.
This story was originally published on Oulu Student Magazine’s second print issue of the year, on 11th of April 2019.
Matti Kauppi was among the first students in the University of Oulu. When he was a child, he wanted to become plant breeder or biology teacher. And in case he can’t make a living in the university, he would become a gardener.
But life didn’t go as planned. When the moment came to leave the university, he decided to study more instead.
After all, the university provided him with everything: degree and job, of course, but also wife, most of his friends, and direction for his life.
On the 3rd of October 1959, a festive atmosphere prevailed in Oulu. On that autumnal Saturday, sun flashed between the clouds and thousands of people were on the streets. Flags were waiving in the poles.
The big change had arrived in the city, and now the entire Oulu celebrated. The act on the University of Oulu was signed on 8 July 1958, and a bit over a year later it was time for the first opening ceremony of the university.
The largest meeting room in the city, YMCA’s tennis hall, was full of festive people. City orchestra sat on a raised platform, and the guests sat side by side on the rows of seats. Among the guests were Speaker of the Parliament Johannes Virolainen, Prime Minister V. J. Sukselainen, Member of Parliament and former Minister of Education Kerttu Saalasti, academicians Martti Haavio and Kustaa Vilkuna, as well as Bishop of the Diocese of Oulu Olavi Heliövaara.
Whether minister or academician, the dress code guided the guests for festive attire: white tie or lounge suit, for women dark short gown without a hat, decorations.
As the opening ceremony began, a parade of academicians, university chancellors and rectors, as well as the university’s temporary council, acting professors and assistant professors. The crowd stood up, the orchestra played Erik Tulindberg’s minuet, and the parade arrived in the hall led by Pentti Kaitera, the first Rector of the University of Oulu. The President Urho Kekkonen and his wife Sylvi Kekkonen, Governors Kalle Määttä and Martti Miettunen with their wives, and adjutants arrived in the hall accompanied by Porilaisten marssi march. After Pentti Kaitera’s opening presentation, the guests heard greetings from Minister of Education Heikki Hosia and professor Edwin Linkomies, the Rector of the University of Helsinki.
YMCA’s hall was completely full, the floor was covered with rows of seats, and those who didn’t get a seat stood in the balconies and stairs leading there.
Matti Kauppi wasn’t one of them. Like many others, he, too, followed the opening ceremony from a TV in the hall of Oulun lyseo, a couple of hundred meters from the actual ceremony.
Unlike many others, he had a different connection to the university: in a couple of days he would begin his studies as one of the first 424 student in the University of Oulu.
Home through the forest
Matti Kauppi, originally from Kempele, heard about the new university in the spring 1959 while he was still serving in the military in Pohja Brigade in Oulu. In August, he attended in the entrance exams for biologists in all three subjects: botany, zoology, and geography. After the exams, Kauppi got the news: welcome to the University of Oulu!
His interest in nature and its wonders manifested already as a schoolboy. While other school kids in Kempele chose the fastest way home along the road, Kauppi and his friend preferred a walk through the forest. Later in life, the friend became gardener while Kauppi became biologist.
When the University of Oulu began its operation sixty years ago, it formed two faculties: philosophical and technical. Oulu Teacher School, established already in 1953, merged to the university, and the medical faculty started in autumn 1960.
Soon after the opening ceremony, Kauppi got to know the student life in Kasarmintie 7, where currently resides the art museum. The top level of Åström’s office building was rented for the botany and zoology departments of the University of Oulu.
Kauppi still owns the study register where all completed exams and lectures were marked by hand. First marks are from the beginning of October in 1959, when professor Lauri Siivonen began the course in animal morphology.
Teaching was in forms of lectures and courses. According to Kauppi, the courses took more time then than nowadays: one course could be three hours in a week and last through the whole winter. The days were full: courses and lectures spanned from the morning to late afternoon with only break for one or two hours. Because the students didn’t have their own restaurant, they either brought their own lunch or cycled to the city centre to the industrial school in Albertinkuja.
The young University of Oulu received much from the earlier universities. Its professors came from Helsinki and Turku, and the old brass Leitz microscopes came from Helsinki. During the first year, the professors brought their own samples for teaching purposes. This had to be done, otherwise the young biologists wouldn’t have anything to study.
The course assistants also collected and preserved the plants also by drying them and preserving them in formalin. Moulds were cultivated on a bread under a glass cover and algal fungi even with fly carcasses.
The study materials had to be prepared for microscopes, which means that the sample had to be processed for study, Kauppi reminisces. For example, when studying plants, the student had to pick up a sample from the preservative liquid and cut very thin pieces of the sample for studying. The most vivid memory from the first courses was the terrible smell of plants and animals preserved in formalin. Then again, Kauppi became a skilled cutter thanks to constant cutting exercises with razor blades.
At the end of the term, a written exam was held at the end of each course. This was then marked with grade in the student’s register. There were no study credits or points to collect, and guidance for theses was quite minimal in the beginning. According to Matti Kauppi, students worked on their theses mostly independently, at times also by banging their heads in the walls when they had done unnecessary work due to the lack of guidance.
The relationship with the professors was very formal, Kauppi recalls.
“Professors were [addressed as] Misters. We students were also Misters and Misses, but professors were to be addressed highly respectfully – but not as Mister Professor.”
Kauppi’s study week was six days long. Monday and Tuesday were reserved for zoology, Wednesday and Thursday for botany, Friday and Saturday for geography.
Was studying in the new university hard? How stressful was studying back then?
According to Matti Kauppi, he did sit in the lectures like everyone else. After all, the lectures were essential. Not because students’ participation would have been closely watched, but because otherwise they wouldn’t know what was talked about during the lecture. There were no separate hand-outs, unless some other student was kind enough to duplicate their notes with tracing paper. Kauppi preferred courses over lectures, since their schedules were loose.
Students back then did work on their studies, but maybe the pace was more leisurely: “We had time!”
Selling Money-Moles
Even though the study week lasted until Saturday, the students also had time for extra-curricular activities in Oulu.
The Student Union played a big role in Matti Kauppi’s student life. According to him, student life in Oulu started to actually develop when the Student Union moved to Kauppurienkatu 2 in the early 1960.
In fact, he has the first membership card of the Student Union of the University of Oulu (OYY). In fact, he got it by chance.
When he lived in the first student house of Oulu, Domus Botnica, Kauppi heard a rumour that the Student Union, whose office was also in the same building, would soon give out membership cards. Kauppi and his roommate Pekka Keränen knocked on the office door exactly at 4 pm and got their cards: Kauppi got number 1 and Keränen number 2.
Later the membership card has proven useful by giving him VIP entrance to the opening ball at student house Rauhala.
“The cannon fired, the rector spoke and got the university’s first key. Fireworks were set off, students had pea soup and beer, and then the cannon fired again.”
On the side of his studies, Matti Kauppi participated also in guild activities. He was one of the founders of Syntaksis, guild for biology students in the University of Oulu, and as elected secretary, he wrote the minutes of the founding meeting. In 1960s, students in Oulu worked hard to ease the student housing shortage: Kauppi, too, collected paper and sold Money-Moles, mole mascots, to fund the construction of Välkkylä student village.
Kauppi participated also in the march from city centre to Kuivasjärvi in November 1966 as a part of big student stunt. On the first of November, more than a thousand students marched long route to dig a hole and fill a field. It was a symbolic act: the location for the future university was a boggy field, and the students wanted to do their share by digging the foundations for the university. The stunt wasn’t a protest but a positive demonstration, whose purpose was to show gratitude on the university’s location.
In the Oulu Student Magazine, the stunt was described as follows: “The cannon fired, the rector spoke and got the university’s first key. Fireworks were set off, students had pea soup and beer, and then the cannon fired again.”
Even before the university, Oulu Teacher School had been active for several years. Pedagogy students launched the “Operation Boulder”, selling ore boulders for raising money for student housing. The Teacher School also had their own student union, who produced a student magazine, organised interest clubs, arranged parties, and organised the first known traditional May Day event in Oulu. Instead of putting a student cap on Frans Mikael Franzén, in 1958 the cap was put on Uno Aro’s bronze statue Kaarnavenepoika (“Bark Boat Boy”). At that time, the students thought that bishop Franzén would be too prestigious to cap, and the head of the statue wasn’t the size of a student cap.
Matti Kauppi looks back and says that he didn’t really meet the pedagogy students. Well, many of them lived in the same building, Domus Botnica in Toivoniemi, and sometimes Kauppi would run into them in student activities. He remembers that the pedagogy students organised rollicking parties, one of which led to burying a radio ceremonially into Merikoski tailrace channel.
“But we were good boys.”
Matti Kauppi retired from his job as an assistant professor in 2000. The University of Oulu provided him with everything: wife, degree, job, most of his friends and acquaintances, direction for his life.
The university wouldn’t let go
Students who started with Matti Kauppi had clear goals: to get the qualifications to teach biology and geography and out to the world!
Kauppi, too, was about to move on from the university towards graduation and teaching. When he reached the point where he was ready to move on to the working life with respect to his studies, Kauppi decided to stay and deepen his knowledge. In 1965 he met his future wife Anneli, who started studying physical chemistry and biochemistry. Matti Kauppi decided to follow her back into the student life.
“When I was supposed to leave the university, I decided to study chemistry and biochemistry instead.”
For many years, they did studies in pedagogy, different field studies, extra courses on computers — everything that is needed to teach in the university. Along the years they wrote also their doctoral theses. Anneli Kauppi studied the structural and functional differences of using stools of broad-leaved trees in coppice forest, whereas Matti Kauppi developed methods for using sensitive lichens as a tool for studying pollution.
“When I was supposed to leave the university, I decided to study chemistry and biochemistry instead.”
Matti Kauppi had worked already on the side of his studies as a course assistant for a professor. After that, his career continued in the University of Oulu in different temporary jobs as teacher, assistant, and garden amanuensis, as well as few times as acting associate professor. Lichens remained his main study interest, and he did cooperation with international researchers. Some publications include also his wife Anneli.
One of Kauppi’s duties was building the University’s Botanical Gardens. They were originally built in Hupisaaret islands, where the city gardens used to be before they were moved to a more spacious area in Peltola. Work on the Botanical Gardens began in the spring 1961. The plants came from Helsinki Botanical Gardens and Raikko Ruotsalo delivered them to Oulu. With the plants came also specific set of instructions on plant placement.
University, too, was first planned to be located in Hupisaaret islands. In the first few years, the university didn’t have one united location but instead it was scattered in different rental spaces. The suggestions for university’s location included Sanginsuu, Virpiniemi and Koskikeskus near the city centre.
Matti Kauppi was instructed to select the trees and bushes in Hupisaaret that were not to be removed when the university comes. Kauppi did as was told, but in the end, the university found its place in Linnanmaa. The Botanical Gardens followed the campus in 1983.
Life, career, friends
Matti Kauppi retired from his job as an assistant professor in 2000. In a way, the University of Oulu provided him everything in life: wife, degree, work, most of his friends and acquaintances, direction for life.
“Contents of life, work and pleasure too,” Matti Kauppi describes the university’s role in his life.
“Its meaning is one-hundred-per-cent important,” Anneli Kauppi adds.
As a child, Matti Kauppi thought to become plant breeder or biology teacher. If there wouldn’t be a vacancy in the university, it would also be nice to work as gardener.
He didn’t become biology teacher, like many others, and like he was originally supposed to. Not a plant breeder or garden director either, although he did work as the latter for a year.
But 81 years of his life Kauppi has been in a good shape, maybe thanks to his gardening hobby.
The university has given him this memory as well:
On the university’s opening day, Matti Kauppi wanted to see the fireworks that he city of Oulu organised over the Koskikeskus. When the view wasn’t satisfying enough from his own balcony, he went up to the fourth-floor balcony in Domus Botnica.
The fireworks had drawn a lot of students to the balcony. Suddenly Kauppi was pushed aside – some important-looking man cleared space in the balcony. The reason was the prestigious guests: governor Kalle Määttä’s spouse Jenni Määttä and president Urho Kekkonen’s spouse Sylvi Kekkonen were also interested in the fireworks.
“I remember that there I was, watching the fireworks over the Mrs Kekkonen’s shoulder.”
In addition to Matti Kauppi’s interview, other sources used in this article are Kauppi’s interviews in the Yliopiston arki project (“Life in the University”, interviewers Tiina Kuokkanen and Tiia Salo) and in Aktuumi volume 2/08, Oulun korkeakouluseura’s (nowadays Oulun yliopistoseura, “University Society of Oulu”) publication on the opening ceremony of the University of Oulu, the history of OYY Uunosta Välkyksi – Oulun yliopiston ylioppilaskunta vuosina 1959–2009 (2009) edited by Anna Nieminen, and an issue of Kaleva published on the 4th of October 1959.
The story translated by Essi Ranta. All quotes have been translated from Finnish to English.
Matti Kauppi
» One of the alumni who started their studies in the University of Oulu autumn 1959. » Graduated from the University of Oulu as master in 1965, licentiate in 1972, and doctorate in 1980. Subject for master’s thesis was grazing’s effects on the vegetation of seaside meadows in Liminganlahti, subject for licentiate thesis was using lichens as fertilizers and indicators for pollution. The subject for doctoral thesis was using lichens in studying air pollution. » Started off by working as an assistant in the plant anatomy course in the University of Oulu spring 1962. Worked in different positions in the University of Oulu until 2000.
“A lot has changed in Oulu since the university was founded, and quite many of the changes have happened thanks to the university. I can only be glad that I have been given a chance to tell about this in the pages of Oulu Student Magazine after 60 years. I wish joy and confidence for everyone working and studying in the University of Oulu!”
Julkaistu
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Anni Hyypiö
Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Twitter: @AnniHyypio
September brought about some changes: Frank Students opened their digital service for all students in Finland. This means that now, if the student wants to get the digital student card, they don’t have to be a member of a student union who has an agreement with Frank. For now, the change applies only to those higher education students whose student union is not Frank’s partner.
Armi Murto, Executive Director in the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK), states that possible impacts of the change become clearer later in the autumn.
“The change in our operational environment has forced us to do a tremendous work in developing, but no one has given up, we keep the positive spirit up – even though this is a serious matter.”
The student utility service Frank Students informed on Monday, 16 Sept that they have opened Frank App service for all student in Finland. Every student in upper secondary and higher level can register in the service and make use of student discounts negotiated by Frank.
Opening the service means also that in order to get a digital student identity card, the student doesn’t have to be a member of a student union who has an agreement with Frank. Frank can verify the student status either through partner unions or through My Studyinfo service maintained by the National Board of Education.
Almost all student unions of Finnish universities of applied sciences (UAS) as well as student unions of the universities of Oulu and Vaasa have ended their partnership with Frank. Institutes of higher education also in Tampere have been outside of Frank’s scope. Now, for the first time, Frank can offer their student card for student in Tampere as well.
Digital card initially available for university students
For now, the change in digital student card applies only to students of universities whose student union is not partner with Frank. Therefore, students in upper secondary schools need to belong to either in the Union of Upper Secondary School Students in Finland (SLL) or the National Union of Vocational Students in Finland (SAKKI) in order to get a student card.
Tiia Lehtola, CEO of Frank, gives two reasons for this solution. First of all, there are different things to take into account when it comes to minor customers. Not all of them have the online banking codes that the new way of registering needs. Also, Frank wants to stagger the big change.
“We are now discussing this with the student unions, and we’ll move forward when we’re ready. When the service becomes accessible also for those upper secondary students who are not part of a student union, the next version of membership recruitment integration should also be available in Frank’s service. This way we still support the student unions’ recruitment of members.”
The service opened on the week 37. According to Lehtola, over thousand new students registered Frank’s digital student card during the first week. Most of the new users are students in the biggest universities of applied sciences in Finland, says Lehtola.
She is glad that users are university students from all over Finland – also from those universities that have ended their partnership with Frank.
“We are happy that the students have found Frank. We haven’t informed about it in particular, except for notifying about an application update and posting in our own channels. It seems that the possibility to use Frank has spread quite organically among the students,” Lehtola says.
According to Tiia Lehtola, Frank App has around 80,000 monthly users at the moment. She is pleased with the amount.
“I believe that the average number of active monthly users increases to over 80,000, and I see it’s possible to reach 100,000 users next year at the latest.”
First news came already in 2016
The majority owner of Frank is Kilroy travel agency, and national student unions the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), the Union of Upper Secondary School Students in Finland (SLL), the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK), and the National Union of Vocational Students in Finland (SAKKI) have minor ownership.
In 2016 was the first time Frank informed about their plans to open the digital student card service. Already back then they told that the service would open first to university and UAS students. This year, on 29 August, Oulu Student Magazine wrote that the service would possibly open this autumn.
In the announcement sent to the student magazines, Frank gives two reasons for the change in Frank App: goal to make every student’s life better and the change in operational environment.
Now that the student status verification is not exclusive to student unions only, the student card market has drastically changed. Student status information of 1.3 million degree students in all 38 Finnish higher education institutions is available in the VIRTA higher education achievement register. In addition to active students, the number also includes students who have already graduated. According to the Central Statistical Office of Finland, in 2018 there were around 153,400 university students and 128,500 UAS students. In vocational training leading to a degree there were around 322,200 students and around 103,400 students in upper secondary school.
At the end of the year 2016, the information about Frank’s decision to open their digital student card service caused worry about student unions’ own member recruitment. According to the current Universities Act, a university student has to be a member of a student union in order to get a degree, but this applies neither to UAS students nor upper secondary students. That’s why offering a student card through the student union has been a strong method for recruiting new members.
When membership in a student union is not necessary to get a student card, what happens to student unions and their member recruitment?
In 2016, Turun Sanomat (12 Dec 2016) and Kaleva (15 Dec 2016), among other papers, wrote about the student unions’ concerns.
In Frank’s announcement sent on September 16, three student unions assured that, in addition to the student card, there are other benefits in joining the union.
“The situation of joining the student union is about to change regardless of Frank, when the student can get the card already before joining the student union. By collaborating with Frank, we can make the it as easy and tempting to join the union as possible. Of course, there are other benefits of being a member in student union than just the card. If the user acquisition goes well, we can tell this message even more effectively than now also to those students that we wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise,” comment the three Secretary Generals Heikki Luoto (SLL), Hanna Huumonen (SAKKI), and Eero Manninen (SYL).
Change is in the air, but of what kind?
There was one student union with ownership in Frank that didn’t give their comment in the announcement. It is SAMOK, the union that represents the UAS students in Finland. Most of the UAS student unions have terminated their contract with Frank, and SAMOK themself has been about to sell their part of Frank, according to the position adopted in the SAMOK general assembly in autumn 2018.
Armi Murto, Executive Directorin SAMOK, stated that the ownership hasn’t been sold yet. Still, it remains the objective, she says.
“We try to take steps towards that. It is the decision that has been made, and I try to implement it to the best of my ability.”
As newly selected Executive Director in SAMOK, Murto deems it regrettable that the cooperation between Frank and the student unions hasn’t been successful.
“We have been aware that some kind of changes are coming to the student card market, and the student unions have prepared for the big changes to the best of their abilities. At the moment, I hope that our objective on selling the ownership is carried out as soon as possible, and that we can conclude our general assembly’s hope.”
Does this change in Frank mean turbulence in the field of student unions?
“At least it has brought changes with it as well as caused worry. The change in our operational environment has forced us to do a tremendous work in developing, no one has given up but keeps the positive spirit up – although this is a serious matter,” Armi Murto formulates.
According to Murto, at this point it is still hard to predict how the opening of services affects the student unions’ actions. The student unions have contemplated whether the change takes away their potential members.
Then again, Murto estimates that the student unions have now focused on developing and expanding their membership activities, communicating about their work in representing students’ interests, and about other important work that they do for UAS students. She thinks it has been great to see the developing work in the student unions.
“They have found different solutions: they have tightened the collaboration among themselves and found different alternatives when it comes to service providers, for example, with the student cards. They have exceptionally prepared for the change in the operational environment by focusing on what they should: developing their own actions. Then again, the concern for member decrease is valid and I understand their concern.”
According to her, the possible effects of the change come clearer later in the autumn: “It is always smart to go through what kind of effects are possible and how to react to them. This autumn, we’re focusing on that the student unions recruit members and with positive attitude. After that we see whether their development work has borne anything, and we can evaluate what to change in the future.”
The union looks forward
At the moment, around half of the 140,000 Finnish UAS students are part of the student unions. According to Armi Murto, the degree of unionization has been on the rise during SAMOK’s history.
“Over the years, there have been some slumps, but they have been turned to rise.”
SAMOK, too, follows the development of student unions’ members amount. According to Murto, the union has just drawn up the budget for 2020, and as a part of it, they have predicted a slump in number of members because of the changes in their environment.
Financial planning is done as realistically as possible, according to Armi Murto, and based on member reports from the student unions.
“Regardless of this, we look forward and hope to offer the best service in student representation and influencing for UAS students.”
Edited on the 18th of October, 2019 at 8:57 am: Edited the amount of information in VIRTA service, added information that the 1,3 million includes not only the current university and UAS students but also graduated students. Added the Central Statistical Offices’s information about amount of students in universities and universities of applied sciences as well as in vocational and upper secondary schools.
Julkaistu
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Anni Hyypiö
Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Twitter: @AnniHyypio
