Last week I spent at the yearly SEFI-conference with the theme “Education Excellence for Sustainability”. SEFI is a Europe wide engineering education network where AYY is a member. The main event yearly is the conference where the international affairs responsible has the luck to visit. This year the conference was far away at the Terceira Island in Portugal. I did not have anything to present myself this year, but it only gave me more time to focus on new information and networking with international engineering education developers.

The view from the conference centre

The week was filled with presentations, posters, workshops and keynote speakers. The participants also had the possibility to visit a local powerplant. All these gave an insight in how the whole field differs, but is still surprisingly similar. We have to use the possibilities to learn from each other and not only re-invent. This is especially important with the global world and international movement for education and employment. In addition, Europe is decreasing in size compared to other parts of the world and to keep up the leading position worldwide, the education has to be world leading.

The change in required skills at the job market is rapid.

Local geothermal plant

The most important takeaways of the week was the slow development of higher education compared to the job market and the loss of creativity during the time in school. Combining the two problems, the graduating students acquires knowledge on the subject studied, but not the way of thinking to apply the knowledge in a new scenario. At the same time the job market is changing rapidly and the traditional way of working is not the primary way to get employed. This development has to be started at curriculum level and not only improve the already existing systems. In Australia they had developed a whole degree in co-operation with industry. In this way, the industry gets to co-create with higher education the future employees. This was nicely concluded in a short sentence by the curriculum developers: “I hire a person, not a position”. Other good examples are the Open University in the United Kingdom were the studies are online based with only a few physical attendance. There the labs were done online with actual hardware instead of only simulations to make it feel more real.

During the discussions I realised that Aalto University and its student community is very competitive internationally. For example, Design Factory was mentioned and learned from, our onlinelearning possibilities was an example, the multidisciplinary possibilities are wide and the power of students can only be dreamed of. We have to be proud of what we have achieved and keep them up. However, our University and everything surrounding will never be ready. Do not be afraid to organize even the a bit crazy ideas!

Parts of the Finnish and Danish delegations enjoying great local food

The branding train keeps rolling on! So far we’ve collected statements and analysed their results – even our strategy document is starting to look good to go. That means that the ground work for the project will soon be a thing of the past, and as summer arrives, we will enter the more visible part of the process as we start tackling the challenges that the visual and communicational reform calls for.

AYY Branding x Futurice x Aalto Marketing Society present: Crash Course to Branding

One of the event highlights of the spring was the Crash Course to Branding event in April. 30 students from Aalto and other universities gathered together to spend a relaxed afternoon, finding out more about branding in general as well as the new AYY branding project. The event was organized in collaboration with the Aalto Marketing Society and Futurice, who also kindly provided us with an amazing location for the event.

The event began with Futurice’s experts’ introduction on branding, which gave everyone present a comprehensive overview on what branding really means. In addition to the basics of branding, the speakers presented examples of particularly successful branding events, such as last year’s two-week plumbing renovation that caused quite a fuss. If you want to find out more about the basics of branding, check out our previous blog entry: /blogi/2017/03/23/ayy-branding-1-0/

Aalto Marketing Society’s chairperson Henrik Lähdesniemi led the participants into a discussion about community branding using AMS’s re-branding project as an example. The marketing students’ association Aalto Marketing Society, founded in 1999, underwent a thorough brand renovation in 2016: the name was changed along with the policies and visual look, resulting in a completely re-branded organization. Lähdesniemi gave advice on what organizations and communities should pay attention to if they want to renew their brand and what to expect in the process. You can check out Aalto Marketing Society’s new, re-branded look on their website: www.aaltomarketing.fi

The last part of the day’s agenda was AYY’s own re-branding project. Futurice’s Brand Vision Sprint was used as a branding tool for this. The participants were divided into several small groups to ponder on how to create a unified Aalto identity, which would also respect the other identities found within the Aalto community. This resulted in six different visions and brand outlines constructed with the help of the Vision Sprint Canvas templates. If your association’s brand needs a facelift, Futurice’s Canvas templates and other methodical tools are available free of charge on their website: http://futurice.com/blog/how-to-do-brand-design-the-lean-way and https://www.leanservicecreation.com/

What’s next?

The next steps for the branding project include meeting several more of our stakeholders. As we make our way to e. g. Mikkeli, the brand strategy document makes its way to the Representative Council, and in the summer, we will hopefully have a signed and finalized version of the strategy. The brand working group will draw up an action plan based on the strategy, which will be used to guide us through the practical implementation of the remainder of the process. During the summer, we will put our hands to the plough and create a solid groundwork for AYY’s new brand that can be moulded during the years, if need be, as well as evaluated by clear performance indicators.

– Noora

Neljä vuotta Aalto-yliopistossa. Aloitin opintoni Kauppiksessa syksyllä 2013. Luen pääaineena laskentatoimea ja sivuaineena johtamista.

Kuusi rekrytointia ylioppilaskuntaan. Jokainen rekrytointi on merkittävä paikka vaikuttaa ylioppilaskunnan tulevaisuuteen. Aikanani näitä paikkoja on ollut jo useita eivätkä ne taida suinkaan olla ohi. Onneksi olemme saaneet tehtäviin useita loistavia hakijoita. Myös yliopistolle valitaan tänä vuonna uusi rehtori ja sitä varten on tärkeää saada opiskelijoiden ääni kuuluviin.

16 maata reilaamassa. Otaniemestä, ja jopa Helsingistä, tarvitsee välillä poistua. Viime kesänä reilasin Norjan vuonoilta Kreikan saarille. Matkailu on paitsi siistiä myös hemmetin vaikeaa. Koen itseni hyvin sosiaaliseksi kotimaassa, mutta vieraalla kielellä ja ilman yhteistä kontekstia uusiin ihmisiin tutustuminen ei välttämättä aina suju. Siksi reissaaminen onkin minulle tärkeää: opin itsestäni ja omista arvoistani enemmän.

68 twiittiä lobbaajana. Matkaa some-osaajaksi on vielä paljon mutta matkalla ollaan. Vaikuttamista olisi tosi kiva tehdä tuoreiden pullien äärellä kabineteissa, mutta todellisuudessa tehokas vaikuttaja lukee aamulla hesarista opiskelijoita koskettavat aiheet ja käy niistä viiltävää keskustelua päättäjiä tägäämällä Twitterissä. Minua voi seurata tunnuksella @joonaorpana.

122 asuntoa opiskelijoille. Kivoimpia ylioppilaskunnan tarjoamia palveluita ovat asunnot. Vastasin viime vuoden hallituksessa asumisesta, jona aikana edustajisto muun muassa päätti uuden kohteen rakentamisesta Jätkäsaareen ja tavoitella 1350 uutta asuntopaikkaa seuraavan kymmenen vuoden aikana. Lisää voi lukea vaikkapa kandintyöstäni Investointien rajoitteet opiskelija-asuntotuotannossa: Aalto-yliopiston ylioppilaskunnan asuntotoiminnan investointien suunnittelua vuosille 2016-2026.

433 kilometriä kotiin. Mie oon kotoisin Joensuusta, josta muutin Helsinkiin vasta opiskelemaan. Hallitusvuosien aikana vapaat viikonloput ovat luksustuotteita. Tykkään käyttää niitä kotona vierailuun. Neljä ja puoli tuntia junalla suuntaan ja toiseen onkin tehokasta aikaa rästitöille. Protip: varaa paikkasi ensimmäisen vaunun yläkerrasta mielellään menosuuntaan.

5031 sähköpostia työtä. Käymieni kokousten ja palaverien lukumäärää en edes viitsi laskea. Kahden hallitustehtävän työmäärää on vaikea summata. Puheenjohtajalle näyttää ainakin kertyvän perinteisiä sähköposteja enemmän, sillä kahden kuukauden jälkeen niiden osuus on jo lähes neljännes kaikista tulleista viesteistä.

15 000 aaltolaista edustamassa. Niin monta meitä Aallossa opiskelee. Ei ole mikään helppo tehtävä edustaa kaikkia, ja siksi ainejärjestöt ja niitä kokoavat rakenteet ovat hyviä.

Miljoonia askelia Runeberginkadulla. Muutamat kadut Töölön kampuksen, KY-talon ja kodin välillä ovat tulleet melkoisen tutuiksi. Ja kotoisia ne ovat edelleen, siinä missä päivän kävelypalaveritkin Väreen nostokurkien ja rantaraitin ohitse.

Yksi parhaista, AYY. Ollaan kunnianhimoisia ja tehdään Aalto-yliopistosta ja Suomesta itsellemme ja tuleville aaltolaisille sukupolville mahdollisimman kiva paikka opiskella. Se on tehtävämme.

t. Joona

AYY’s Secretary General Niko Ferm spoke on the topic Unused talent at Work Up! Multicultural Working Life seminar held by the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on the 31st of January. You can watch the full coverage of the seminar here (Ferm starts at approx 30.00).

The potential of international talents is not used in Finland

Just recently Tekniikka&Talous published a news article reporting that there is more and more brain drain from Finland[1][2]. However, at the same time we fail to utilize our brain gain. Every year around 5000 international students arrive to Finland to study at a higher education institute. There are currently over 20 000 international students studying in Finland[3]. I found in my study that at the moment about two-thirds of the international graduates from Aalto University are employed. But if we look at the big picture we see that only about 50% of all international higher education graduates are employed[4]. This is worrying since at the same time demographic dependency ratio weakens in Finland[5]. This means that the amount of people working and paying taxes is decreasing in relation to the people who are underage or have retired.

Internationals lack Finnish language skills and the right networks

Main obstacles for employment are the lack of Finnish language skills and the lack of the right networks. Finnish graduates have had their entire youth to create networks, where as international students only spend two to four years in the university creating networks while studying. Fortunately, a group from Aalto University is trying to find a solution for this issue. With their idea they won the first prize in ACID16 competition at Slush 2016[6].

We also need to find a solution for how to find thesis placements for internationals from private sectors since that seems to increase employability. I found in my study that internationals do not get employed in the small and medium size companies as much as locals do. This could be due to the lack of contacts or because of the language barrier. CIMO is currently working on a promising project to find ways to bring the potential of international students into better use in internationalisation efforts of SMEs.

What will happen after tuition fees?

Finland has decided to introduce tuition fees for students coming outside the EU/EEA countries[7]. As most of the international students in Finland come from these countries we are likely to be faced with a situation where the number of applicants from outside the EU/EEA countries drops significantly. In my study it was found that the main reasons for coming to and studying in Finland are free education, possibility to study in English and a chance to explore foreign country. In the International Student Barometer (ISB) the main reasons for internationals coming to study in Finland were the cost of education, quality of research or a specific course[8]. Also, in my study half of the students considered the good education system and reputation of the university as reasons to come to study in Finland. Also, almost 80% consider Finland to be a great place to live. We also know that according to ISB, 78% of the respondents considered the chance to get employed in Finland to be an important criteria when applying to a university8. Perhaps this could be something to invest in more and make it the new competitive advantage for Finland?

Other issues affecting the employment of international graduates

However, there is still much more to do to make the situation better for international graduates than to just get them employed. We must consider the quality of the employment. In the VALOA-study it was found that 23,7% of international university graduates have had to take a job which could have been performed with lower education. In TEK’s student barometer it was also found that international graduates have more part-time vacancies than locals[9]. From a study conducted by OTUS we can see huge differences with the quality of the vacancies between locals and internationals coming from outside of EU/EEA area[10].

In addition to the quality of the employment there are still issues with discrimination. I found in my study that 20% of the respondents had faced discrimination and even more considered that employers do not trust immigrants. Similar results were found in the study conducted by OTUS, where 42,4% of the respondents had negative experiences about employers’ attitudes towards internationals.

What can we do?

Some progressive steps have been taken lately as the future funding model of universities will include quality of the employment as a criteria for funding. This will give incentives for universities to focus on quality of the employment of their alumni which includes international graduates as well. However, it is very likely that this will not be enough, therefore some new ideas should be introduced and researched further. Many potential ideas for improving the situation are presented by OTUS in their research on employability of international graduates. These are listed below10:

• Increasing students’ language skills during studies
• Integrating international student into the Finnish culture of collaboration already during studies
• Acknowledging the needs of business life in the teaching in the international degree programmes
• Career guidance for international students offered by the higher education institution
• Guidance methods for students, organised by employers and higher education institutions jointly
• Higher education institutions actively communicating about the potential in international students for working life
• Offering international students internships and summer work
• Work/Job shadowing
• Friend family activities

Most of these ideas are directed to universities, but we need actions from government and companies as well. At least we should complete the ideas that we have decided to do. For example our government’s plan of action states the following

“Tuition fees will be introduced for non-EU and non-EEA students, and those who have completed their studies will be encouraged to stay and work in Finland, for example with a tax deduction. The employment opportunities of foreign students who have studied in Finland will be promoted and their knowledge of the Finnish language emphasized.”

These statements still need actions. We could also consider ideas such as paying subsidies for the unemployed international graduates as we have for the Finnish long-term unemployed job-seekers. When it comes to our international graduates we should not wait too long. If they are unable to get a job in Finland they will look for employment elsewhere.

Main points of this blog are from Niko Ferm’s thesis “Employability of international graduates from the field of technology and business”. The focus in the thesis was in the recent graduates (during years 2014 to 2016) from Aalto University. The thesis was conducted in co-operation with Tekniikan Akateemiset (TEK), Suomen Ekonomit and Teknologiateollisuus.

Niko Ferm
General Secretary, AYY

[1] http://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/tiede/tutkimus/korkeakoulutettujen-aivovuoto-ulkomaille-kiihtyy-kokonaisia-tutkimusryhmia-lahtee-6611956
[2] http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finnish_brain_drain_picks_up_speed_entire_research_groups_now_moving_abroad/9391248
[3] http://www.cimo.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/cimo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/111070_Tietoa_ja_tilastoja_5_2016.pdf
[4] http://www.cimo.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/cimo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/89972_FaktaaExpress1A_2016.pdf
[5] http://www.stat.fi/til/vaenn/2015/vaenn_2015_2015-10-30_tie_001_en.html
[6] https://www.yrittajat.fi/uutiset/545863-pitchauskisan-voittajat-ratkaisivat-kuinka-maahanmuuttajien-tyonhaun-leirinuotiot
[7] http://www.studyinfinland.fi/tuitionfees
[9] https://www.tek.fi/fi/cmis/browser?id=workspace%3A//SpacesStore/287f88ef-2162-4540-adef-e1627d170933&filename=cmisattachments/Tyo%CC%88paja_suomalaiset_ulkkarit.pptx
[10] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByBfoIU5Pc0ubmFVR1lVWGJaS2s2QXJQSGNhb1BGdFV6dkNV/view

I had the pleasure of attending two interesting international conferences this autumn – the huge annual conference of European Association for International Education (EAIE) in Liverpool in September and a more specialized “Internationalisation of the Curriculum” conference at the University of Göttingen in Germany.  My focus in both of the conferences was internationalization at home. Too often internationalization is thought of as the external networks of the university or the percentages of the foreign student population at campus. I like a more holistic view on internationalization as something happening inside the university, in its internal practices, in learning methods and in internationalized learning outcomes. Next I will present the top picks and most interesting stories from the conferences, enjoy!

How to bring international perspectives to all students? Many German universities have started impressive processes to internationalize curricula, because international mindsets and intercultural communication skills are deemed essential for all graduates. Internationalizing the curriculum does not mean switching the language of the program to English, it means systematically integrating international and intercultural perspectives and global questions into the contents of the curricula, in the learning methods and outcomes. There is no one-size-fits-all model of an internationalized curricula but the process of internationalizing requires a lot of reflection and involvement of faculty and students. Where business students need to get an understanding of global markets and intercultural negotiations, engineering students benefit from an understanding of cultural and societal surroundings of their future engineering projects. The Vice-President of University of Göttingen said it well: “the bridges fall down the same around the world, but what happens next is culture specific”. All keynote lectures from Göttingen can be found here.

Göttingen is a small university town 200km from Berlin with 120 000 inhabitants and the 5th most international university in Germany!

Why is internationalization important? Today’s work life requires graduates to be fluent in foreign languages, to function in a multicultural workplace and remotely with customers and colleagues around the world. In EAIE a panel of top recruiters from big multinational companies got together to discuss the level of preparedness of graduates for the requirements of working life. I was surprised to learn that the recruiters unanimously put more emphasis on the soft skills than the hard, academic skills when making their recruiting decisions. Soft skills, also known as interpersonal or transferable skills mean skills like communication, teamwork, networking and intercultural communication skills. According to a study presented at EAIE almost half of university students feel ill-equipped for the labor market and 87% of them would like to get more career advice from the universities. The aforementioned soft skills may be trained during the studies but they should also be systematically communicated to students. For example, instead of making students do a group work without further explanation, the teacher could mix the students into multicultural and multidisciplinary groups and explain why practicing teamwork and intercultural communication is important for their future work life and also to discuss with the students the potential challenges they encounter. Intercultural communication and understanding and being able to relate to different perspectives and circumstances were key skills in employers’ opinion. If you’re interested in reading more about the employers’ views, check out this blog.

How can students communicate their intercultural competence? How to make soft skills visible and the student acknowledge what she has learnt? How can a student prove the job market she has acquired relevant international skills as part of the degree? In a session in EAIE 3 German universities (Hamburg, München and Göttingen) presented their certificates for intercultural competence. All the certificates consist of a theoretical component of intercultural communication and selective elements ranging from mobility periods to language and culture courses and to getting active in the international student community in associations or as tutors. Intercultural competence means behaving and communicating effectively across cultures, understanding different value-sets and ideals and being flexible and able to adapt to new situations. Intercultural competence can be learned from books only to some extent, as going outside of the safety of your own cultural bubble and reflecting on the new, sometimes uneasy sensations when you don’t know what is expected of you and you cannot understand why your counterpart is behaving in a certain way, are often the most valuable lessons of intercultural competence. In all of the 3 presented models students had to reflect on their intercultural encounters to gain the certificate. Students had started to think critically of the hidden assumptions and behavioral models their own culture gives them and felt the most important aspect of intercultural competence was to be curious to new viewpoints and not to be a prisoner of stereotyping. What I liked the most was that all the 3 certificates put a great emphasis on learning intercultural competence at the home campus, by getting to know the international students. If you’d like to hear international students’ perspectives on studying in Aalto, check out AYY’s project Aalto is Multicultural.

The best of Liverpool: Fab Four (The Beatles), the well functioning city bike system and the sunny waterfront boulevard.

What can digitalization bring to internationalization? Digitalization opens up a whole new world to higher education as new perspectives and encounters are no longer limited to physical settings. Digitalization plays a key role in internationalization strategies of the universities, as it enables the involvement of intercultural and international learning also in courses that do not benefit from a multicultural student body. In Göttingen digitalization was one of the key themes of the conference with many good examples of practicing intercultural communication via online platforms. One interesting example was a course on built environment which was done by a German university with its Mexican partner university. The students made local projects on sustainability issues of their respective urban environments, but presented and discussed their findings in multicultural groups in an online platform. The students also had to analyze their experience in virtual intercultural teamwork, but the main focus of the course was on learning about sustainability in built environments. Digitalization is a great chance to bring the wide international networks of Aalto into use in learning. One interesting course is coming up next spring, where students get to practice cooperation in virtual teams in different continents. The course is open for all master students, I bet it’s useful!

How to make incentives for internationalization of curricula? Money might be the best incentive for universities to bring about a change. In Ghent in the Netherlands the university has made an ambitious Key Performance Indicator (KPI, with which universities measure their key objectives) target: intercultural competence should be embedded to every degree by 2020! In Ghent the university has made a conscious and determined decision in its strategy to encourage internationalization and with KPIs it’s making sure internationalization will not be a mere word in the strategy but actually part of every student’s degree. In Aalto University’s strategy for 2016-2020 internationalization is not mentioned because it’s seen as a cross-cutting value of the university. But in order to make it visible and real for every student in Aalto, clear incentives and instructions would be needed.

What can students do for internationalization? In 2016 AYY has been active in creating an action plan for the university to better take into account internationalization in degrees, teaching, digitalization and all university practices. The action plan will be ready soon and the work will continue next year to raise awareness of the objectives together with the university. AYY international sector has also made an ABC guide for internationalization for student associations. This booklet with useful hints will be online soon! What could every student do for internationalization? You can decide to benefit in full extent of the wonderfully diverse Aalto community! Maybe make a new year’s resolution and get to know 5 new people from different cultures next year?

Milla Ovaska

works at AYY as a Specialist in International Affairs and plans to read a lot, eat chocolate and visit Hamburg during the Christmas holidays.

Opiskelijoiden siirtäminen yleiseen asumistukeen oli ylioppilaskuntien tavoite, ja se toteutui. Opiskelijat siirtyvät yleisen asumistuen piiriin 1.8.2017. Yleisessä asumistuessa tuki kohdistuu sitä eniten tarvitseville. Nykyinen opintotuen asumislisä on monelle opiskelijalle etenkin pääkaupunkiseudulla täysin riittämätön. Lukuvuonna 2014-2015 Uudellamaalla opintotuen asumislisä kattoi keskimäärin vain 48 % vuokrasta. Lisäksi opintuki, jonka osa opintuen asumislisä on, on ollut jatkuvien heikennysten kohteena, joten järjestelmää ei ole voinut pitää mitenkään vakaana. 1.8.2017 alkaen opintoraha on vain 250 euroa kuukaudessa kaikilla opiskelijoilla.

Siirto ei kuitenkaan ole ongelmaton. Arvion mukaan 120 000 opiskelijan asumisen tuki kasvaa tai pysyy samana (tuen keskimääräinen nousu 59 €/kk), 54 000 tuki pienenee vähintään 25 euroa kuukaudessa ja 42 000 menettää asumisen tukensa kokonaan.  Arvio sisältää sekä toisen että korkea-asteen opiskelijat. Kokonaisuudessaan yleinen asumistuki on kuitenkin toivottu muutos, koska se kohdentuu paremmin eniten tukea tarvitseville. Opiskelijoille maksettavan asumisen tuen arvioidaan kasvavan 60 miljoonalla eurolla, joten kokonaisuutena opiskelijat saavat enemmän.

Eniten siirrosta hyötyvät yksin asuvat henkilöt, joilla on vain vähän tuloja ja korkea vuokra. Karkeasti sanoen hyötyjiä tässä suhteessa ovat etenkin yksinasuvat korkeampaa vuokraa maksavat henkilöt. Pääkaupunkiseudulla vuokrataso on muuta maata korkeampi, joten tässä suhteessa hyötyjiä löytyy täältä erityisesti. Häviäjiä ovat ruokakunnat, esimerkiksi puolison kanssa asuvat, joista toisella on enemmän tuloja eli esimerkiksi pariskunnat joista toinen on opiskelija ja toinen on työssäkäyvä. Nämä opiskelijat saattavat menettää asumisen tukensa kokonaan. Tämä siitä syystä, että asumistuki on ruokakuntakohtainen, joten myös esimerkiksi puolison tulot huomioidaan.

Perheelliset opiskelijat ovat tähänkin asti olleet yleisen asumistuen piirissä. Heille muidenkin opiskelijoiden siirtyminen järjestelmään tulee olemaan heikennys, kun opintotuki luetaan tuloksi asumistukea myönnettäessä.

Asumistuki on opintotuen asumislisään verrattuna monimutkainen järjestelmä, joka riippuu asuinpaikasta, asumismuodosta, ruokakunnan koosta ja muodosta (aikuiset ja lapset) ja asumiskustannuksista. Siinä missä opintotuen asumislisä on käytännössä ollut kaikille sama matalan tasonsa ja yksilökohtaisuuden vuoksi, on yleinen asumistuki tasoltaan eri henkilöille erilainen.

Asumistuki on ympärivuotinen eikä se oli sidottu opinnoissa etenemiseen. Yleinen asumistuki suhtautuu joustavammin tuloihin kuin opintotuen asumislisä. Tulojen noustessa asumistuki pienenee ja tietyn pisteen jälkeen lakkaa. Opintotuen asumislisässä ei ole tällaista joustoa, joko asumislisää saa tai sitä ei saa ollenkaan, kun tuloraja ylittyy.

Ruokakuntakohtaisuus on yleisen asumistuen selkein heikennys. 42 000 opiskelijaa menettää asumisen tukensa. Osa opiskelijoista saa vähemmän asumisen tukea tai tulee menettämään asumisen tukensa kokonaan tästä syystä.

Asumistuki huomioi paremmin korkeat asumiskustannukset. Asumistukea on ylipäätään mahdollista saada enemmän. Helsingissä yksin asuvan enimmäismäärä on 406,40 ja Espoossa 393,30 euroa. Tämä on selkeästi enemmän kuin opintotuen asumislisä, jota voi saada enintään 201,60 euroa kuukaudessa, ja jonka kaikki siihen oikeutetut käytännössä saavat. Asumistuessa huomioidaan paikkakuntakohtaiset erot kuntaryhmittäin hyväksyttyinä enimmäisasumismenoina.

Elli-Noora Kaurila, edunvalvonta-asiantuntija

This year it has been 99 years since the Finnish parliament adopted the declaration of independence on the 6 of December 1917. A nice thing about the Finnish Independence day is that it is always at the end of the year. This is a good time to look back at the year that has been and think about what has happened in society, in Finland and in the world. At the same time it is also possible to start looking forward and ponder about what the next year might bring.

Happy Independence Day!

Even though the wold is constantly developing and becoming a better place, this year has unfortunately been a turbulent year. Thousands of people are fleeing war, but the welcome in Europe is cold. Hate speech is increasing in our everyday life, while flags of far right movements can be seen for example outside the railway station. Young people with a risk of falling out of society is increasing. The economic situation is still very severe. In the United States a racist and sexist populist has been elected President, and furthermore he is also a climate-skeptic. In Turkey the local government is doing very undemocratic decisions, that has had an impact specifically on free press on the academic society.

But there has also happened good stuff in the world, at least here in Finland. The plans for the DARE-learning event has started to come around. The goal of the event is to bring learning in as a center piece in all of society, and make Finland a global center for learning. AYY and other student unions and youth organisations is supporting the campaign “Huominen ilman pelkoa”, and we wish to make organised racism a crime by law. Among the technology students there has been a lot of talk about the use of the n-word in the classical teekkarihymni-song, and now also AYY’s representative council has taken a stand in the issue. Tempaus2016 sent 1400 students to 15000 different schools to spread the joy of learning and education around Finland. Slush was again a success which attracted 17000 visitors and brought together investors, startups and people who has a will to make the world a better place. In addition SYL and other youth organisations have taken generational politics as a main project, which among other things mean that we stand against the populist forces in retirement policies and also we encourage decision makers to always take into consideration a sustainable society when making decisions that has long term effects in the future.

Did you notice that all these things are more or less driven by students? That’s right, students seems to be the ones pushing both the world and Finland forward. This has been seen earlier in Finland’s history too: without activeness from the students, Finland probably wouldn’t be independent right now. Our national anthem, the Great Petition, the Jäger movement are just a few historical examples where the student movement has played a significant role.

The celebration of the Independence Day has always been an important event for the student movement. The students of the capitol region has always on the Independence Day since the year 1951 arranged a torchlight procession from the Hietaniemi cemeteries to the Senate square, following the reversed path of Baron C. G. E. Mannerheim’s funeral procession. Unfortunately the far right movement and the neo-nazis are also organizing their own torchlight procession on the Independence Day. It’s very sad that organisations that has no respect for human rights, equal value of human life and Finnish democracy and values are trying to steal what has always been the students’ event.

This polarization of society is very alarming, but where does it come from? We sometimes say that we live in the times of post-truth politics, where facts, science and truth means less than repeated rhetoric that appeals to feelings. I truly hope that this is just a temporary trend and that society will start to go in a better direction. However, that requires measures from all of us: critical thinking from the citizens, truthfulness from politicians, objectivity from the media and overall an honest integrity from all parts of society. We could all learn from President Paasikivi, who stated: “The beginning of all wisdom is acknowledging the facts”.

As students we need to be the ones who look to the future, who dare to be visionairies and who dare to find new solutions. We don’t fear the challenges and problems in society, but confront them together. Don’t let hate and fear take any more space in society. Don’t let talk, that isn’t based on facts and truth, take space in decision making. And don’t ever stop being critical and active citizens. Isn’t that exactly the role of Universities and Student Unions?

HYY, AYY and SHS have decided that the theme of our torchlight procession this year is a global and equal Finland. Even though some organisations want to spread hate and violence, it’s even more important to keep true to our principles and human values. I hope that a lot of you join us in the torchlight procession!

This year has been a turbulent year. However, next year Finland will turn 100. Let’s together make sure that Finland’s 100 year’s anniversary will be even better than this year, that we will respect one another even more, that we will help each other when it is needed, and that we will show, that in the end love always prevails.

This year has given me a lot. I am truly happy that have gotten this chance to work for the good of the Aalto students and I must say that I have learned a lot. In the board of the Student Union I have had the possibility to make both our Aalto-spirit and our society as whole a better place. Next year I get to face new challenges in the board of the National Union of University Students in Finland. It’s a great honor to get to represent students on the national level the same year that Finland turns 100 years old. We’ll continue to work for a global and equal Finland and show that students have an important role in building both Finland’s history and it’s future!

I want to end this text with citing our national anthem’s second to last verse, which is usually left out when singing it, but can be read on Runeberg’s statue on the Esplanade in Helsinki:

Oh land, the thousand lakes’ own land,
Of faith, and lay, and glee,
Where life’s main sea gave us a strand,
Our fore-time’s land, our future’s land,
Shy of thy poorness, never be,
Be calm, be glad, be free!

J..L. Runeberg’s statue in Helsinki with the text of the national anthem (in Swedish)

I wish you a Great Independence Day, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🙂

Jimmy Nylund,
Member of the board at Aalto-university Student Union

Mitä teet ensi vuonna?
Tämä kysymys on pulpahdellut vastaan viime aikoina kaikkialla – kiltahuoneilla, ruokaloissa, AYY:n toimiston käytävillä, vuosijuhlien silliksillä, vuoden viimeisissä kehityskeskusteluissa… Näin joulukuussa, kun viimeisimmistäkin tapahtumista alkaa olla aikaa ja pahimmankin gonahduksen pikkuhiljaa korvaa nostalgia, on helppoa unohtaa kuluneen vuoden epätoivon ja väsymyksen hetket ja alkaa innostua taas jostain ihan uudesta. Itse olen koko vuoden harjoitellut ponnekkaasti omaa vastaustani tähän kuuluisaan kysymykseen: “En mitään. Aion valmistua.” Toki olen harjoittanut tätä vastausta jo kaksi edellistäkin syksyä kohtuullisen huonolla menestyksellä, mutta ei puhuta nyt siitä. Lähes kuuden vuoden opiskelun ja aktiivisen vapaaehtoisnakkeilun jälkeen on hyvä hetki pohtia, minkä ihmeen takia sitä oikeastaan on kerta toisensa jälkeen päätynyt käyttämään välillä huomattaviakin määriä vapaa-aikaansa työhön, josta ei saa palkaksi kuin kiitosta (toisinaan) ja hyvän mielen (ainakin kun tapahtuma on turvallisesti takanapäin). Loppujen lopuksi vastaus on hyvin yksinkertainen:

Vapaaehtoistyössä pääsee ylittämään itsensä perusteellisemmin kuin missään muualla

Kuutisen vuotta sitten kirkassilmäisenä mursuna päätin, että johonkin on lähdettävä mukaan, jos ei muuten niin siksi, että sillä tavalla tulisin puolivahingossa pakottaneeni itseni lähtemään myös mukavuusalueeni ulkopuolelle. Jos olisin mursuna aavistanut, miten pitkälle silloiselta mukavuusalueelta tulisin erinäköisten nakkieni myötä vaeltaneeksi ja miten paljon lisää rohkeutta ja itsevarmuutta erinäköisissä tehtävissä onnistumisista (ja epäonnistumisista) saisin, olisin luultavasti tehnyt saman päätöksen vielä vähän ponnekkaammin.

Ironista kyllä, omalla kohdallani suurimmat onnistumisen kokemukset olen löytänyt nakeista, joihin en koskaan olisi uskonut päätyväni. Ennen kaikkea nämä ovat kaksi vuottani yhteisöjaosto Aavassa. Syksyllä 2014, viiden eri vapaaehtoistoimen jälkeen, päätin vakaasti, että nyt riitti, ei enää. Vaadittiin silloin AYY:n hallituksessa istuneen ystäväni kaikki suostuttelutaidot ennen kuin taivuin lähettämään elämäni surkeimmin kirjoitetun hakemuksen, ja vielä haastattelussa yritin kaikin tavoin tuhota mahdollisuuteni päästä mukaan. Jostain käsittämättömästä syystä puheenjohtajamme kuitenkin näki niskoitteluni lävitse, ja otti minut mukaan porukkaan ja vuoteen, josta tuli ylivoimaisesti siihenastisen vapaaehtoisurani huikein kokemus (tästä suuri kiitos sekä minut hakemaan painostaneelle että minut valinneelle, tiedätte keitä olette <3).

Se määrä vuonna 2015 tapahtuneita asioita, joita en olisi ikinä uskonut tapahtuvaksi. Kun päätimme kymmenen ihmisen voimin järjestää ensimmäistä kertaa ihkaoman wapunaloitusfestarin koko Aallolle, ja siivosimme saman kymmenen ihmisen voimin sitä aamukolmeen. Kun keksimme täysin randomisti, että ennen lakitusta Mantan lakki voisi kierrellä opiskeljatapahtumia ja käydä tapaamassa tärkeitä ihmisiä, ja tästä kampajasta paisui valtamedioissa asti huomioitu #matkallamantalle. Kun tästä palkinnoksi pääsimme wappunaattona pesemään Mantan. Kun lähdin puolivillaisesti mukaan tekemään KY:n Otaniemeen saapumisshow’ta KY-Entryä ja huomasin olevani järjestämässä tapahtumaa, joka sisälsi kuorma-autokulkueen, laivan, kävelykulkueen, helikopterin ja aivan huikean lavashown ja bileet. Kun olin ensimmäistä kertaa yksin vastuussa tapahtumasta, jonka idean olin vielä itse keksinyt, ja se onnistui yli kaikkien odotusten.

Kun päätin, että minusta voisi ehkä sittenkin joskus tulla jonkin vapaaehtoisporukan puheenjohtaja

Siihen asti olin aina ajatellut, että en minä, ei minusta ole siihen, parempi jättää johtaminen niille, jotka sen oikeasti osaavat. Alkusyksystä 2015 sain päähäni, että ehkäpä minä sittenkin, jollain tavalla, ihan vähäsen, pystyisin puheenjohtamaan seuraavaa Aavaa – ja tästä ajatuksesta en enää päässyt irti, vaikka ponnekkaasti yritin. Lopulta, viimeisenä hakuiltana, löysin itseni samasta tilanteesta kuin vuotta aikaisemmin, lähettämästä sekavaa ja huonosti kirjoitettua hakemusta virkaan, josta en ollut ihan varma, halusinko sitä. Haastattelun jälkeen luulin olevani selvillä vesillä –  ei kukaan täysjärkinen meikäläistä tuon jälkeen valitse –  mutta toisena syksynä peräkkäin sain yllättyä. Ensireaktioni, kun hallituksen kulttuurivastaava soitti ja kertoi valinnastaan, oli muistaakseni erinäköisillä luovilla kirosanoilla maustettu versio lauseesta “et voi olla tosissasi”(joka sivumennen sanoen kirvoitti puhelimen toisesta päästä hilpeää naurua). Ei varmaan tarvitse sanoa, että toista kertaa peräkkäin puolivillaisesti viime tipassa tehty päätös osoittautui yhdeksi elämäni parhaimmista.

Looking back, tuntuu hassulta että aika tarkalleen vuosi sitten tähän aikaan olin aivan paniikissa. Ei minusta ole tähän, ei minulla ole aikaa tähän, mistä ihmeestä saan kerättyä Aavaani yhdeksän pätevää tyyppiä, pystynkö muka luomaan porukkaan minkäännäköistä yhteishenkeä, tästä tulee aivan totaalisen hirveää, voinko vielä perua päätökseni ovat vain muutamia päässäni silloin jatkuvasti pyörineistä ajatuksistani. Useampi kuin yksi kaverini rohkaisi minua silloin sanomalla, että muutaman viikon päästä, kun olisin saanut porukan kasaan ja hommat pyörimään, en edes muistaisi näitä ajatuksia – ja oikeassahan he olivat. Heti ensimmäisestä Aavan vuosimallia 2016 hengauksesta alkaen tiesin, että tästä vuodesta tulisi näiden tyyppien kanssa vieläkin huikeampaa kuin viime vuodesta, enkä ole tähän mennessä joutunut tätä ajatusta uudelleenarvioimaan.

Ei sillä, etteikö tämä vuosi olisi monella tapaa ollut suurin ja henkisesti vaativin omalta mukavuusalueelta ulos sukeltaminen, jonka olen opiskeluaikoinani toteuttanut. Olen oppinut luovimaan vastakkaisten mielipiteiden suosta kompromissiratkaisuun astumatta kenenkään varpaille. Olen oppinut korottamaan ääntäni ja vaatimaan huomiota sanottavalleni vaikka kesken lennokkaan läpänheiton (sekä kiipeämään tuolille ja nakittamaan kovempiäänisiä ihmisiä äänitorvikseni, kun jotain pitää ihan oikeasti saada sanottua). Olen oppinut, että joskus puheenjohtajankin kannattaa vain sanoa mielipiteensä suoraan, vaikka se ei miellyttävää kuultavaa olisikaan. Olen oppinut, että muiden tukeminen onnistumisessa voi olla vielä palkitsevampaa kuin onnistuminen itse. Ennen kaikkea olen oppinut sen, että epäluuloistani huolimatta myös minusta on johtamaan ihmisiä – omalla tyylilläni toki, mutta loppujen lopuksi johtamistyylejä on yhtä monta kuin ihmisiä. On ollut hetkiä, jolloin mieli on tehnyt nostaa kädet pystyyn ja sanoa “fuck dis, I quit”. Ja sitten on ollut paljon, paljon enemmän hetkiä, jolloin olen ollut aivan valtavan iloinen, että juuri minä saan puheenjohtajaa juuri tätä porukkaa ja luotsata meitä yhdessä tekemään koko ylioppilaskunnasta kaikille vähän hauskempaa paikkaa.

Parhaan ystäväni sanoin: harvemmin sitä katuu niitä asioita, jotka teki, kuin niitä, jotka jätti tekemättä. Jos siis tuntuu siltä, että mukavuusalue alkaa olla liian mukava paikka, että olisi aika laajentaa reviiriä, että jotain uutta olisi kiva kokeilla, vaikka et ole ihan varma, pystytkö siihen – kokeile. Se voi olla tähänastisen elämäsi paras päätös, ja vaikka ei olisikaan, opit varmasti jotain, mikä olisi muuten jäänyt oppimatta.

Pian valmistuvan vapaaehtoiskonkaritädin terkuin,
Elkku

Ps. Asiaan mitenkään liittymättä, AYY:n vapaaehtoishaut ovat auki vielä muutaman päivän osoitteessa ayy.fi/stop 😉

Hi #StudentsofFinland!

Henna is a Master’s student at Aalto BIZ majoring in Corporate Communication

I’m Henna, a Master’s student at Aalto BIZ majoring in Corporate Communication. This is my first year at Aalto, and I’d like to share the story of how I ended up here (hint: it took a while).

I originally started my Bachelor’s studies in 2009 in Turku, and before that I spent six months at a University of Applied Sciences in Lahti. My Bachelor’s degree major was International Business. However, I found myself drifting between different kinds of subjects: sustainability, information systems science, management and organization, even some English translation studies.

With only vague ideas about what I wanted to do when I graduated, I found myself postponing decisions. I spent a couple of years focusing mostly on working part-time and trying to figure out what really motivates me. I knew my major at the moment wasn’t quite doing it for me but I was afraid to change it because I had already spent so many years working on it (on and off, but working nonetheless).

Graduating from a new Master’s program would take another two or three years. Many well-meaning people advised me to just get a degree and then figure out the rest as I go. But I don’t think it really works like that anymore.

In the end, it took me until Autumn 2015 to muster up the courage to admit that I really wasn’t happy with what I was doing.  It was because the realization hit me: three years would pass anyway. In the grand scheme of things, that isn’t very long at all. While I might regret not graduating earlier, I knew I’d regret graduating with a degree I hated even more.

So I dropped out of our thesis group, finished up my Bachelor’s studies, applied to Aalto, and got in. I’ll be honest, it was difficult to watch my friends graduate and find stable jobs while I knew I’d be studying for another two or three years. But right now I’m glad I didn’t rush.

Even before the semester began, I was looking for interesting projects to join. I ended up joining the AYY development cooperation week team, which has been a lot of fun. For me, one of the best parts of studying has always been multidisciplinary studies and meeting people from completely different fields than my own.  Sure, networking and meeting new people is important and fun in and of itself, but there’s an even better reason: learning.

Like Bill Nye famously said, ”Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” Classrooms and courses aren’t the only way to learn at the university, and professors and lecturers aren’t the only people who teach you. And learning doesn’t stop when you graduate.

To all #StudentsofFinland and everyone reading this, I challenge you to find opportunities to learn outside of the classroom. Step out of that comfort zone you’re absolutely sick of hearing about. Challenge yourself to find ways to give back to the community. Consider volunteering your time to a cause that’s important to you.

And while you will learn exiting things, remember that not every realization is life changing. Who knows, maybe the next time someone bumps you on the bus just teaches you that manners are important. Still, maybe you’ll learn something about yourself and your values.

The next time you meet someone, think about what you can learn from them.

So while you go about your life, keep your earns open, listen with an open mind, and most of all, stay humble.