TaiYo's Board and Secretary General participated in the Opening Seminar of the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) in Jyväskylä at the beginning of February. In the blog, TaiYo board member Tea Sirén shares her thoughts and observations from the seminar trip.
At 7 AM, almost our entire board left Helsinki on the state railways towards Jyväskylä, sipping coffee bought from the station and munching on sandwiches, in a slightly tense and hysterical mood. Our destination: the opening seminar of the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL). What SYL? Well, before being on the board it matter was still a bit obscure to me but now I can say, with decent confidence, that it is an umbrella organization that does national advocacy work for all the university students in Finland and that brings together all the student unions to agree on shared advocacy goals and create connections across city and university borders to create strength in numbers. SYL does advocacy work all year round (and probably sometimes around the clock), i.e. it meets with politicians and explains why the interests of students should be realised in Finland in the future as well.
Minuakin jännitti, vaikka olen jonkin osan elämästäni viettänytkin erilaisissa minglailu- eli verkostoitumistilaisuuksissa toisen työni puolesta. Olin aikaisemmin kuullut, että mojova osa Suomen eturivin poliitikoista ja muista valtaapitävistä on ponnistanut ”alalle” nimenomaan ylioppilaskuntien ja erityisesti SYLin tuomien mahdollisuuksien kautta. Ja nyt oltiin oman pääsihteerimme Janen toimesta saatu ohje, että pitää ihan oikeasti jutella muiden kanssa, vaikkakin on todettava, etteivät taiyolaiset tyypillisesti olekaan avausseminaarissa olleet solmiot ojossa ja ice breakerit valmiiksi mietittynä, vaan olemme liikkuneet enemmän yhtenäisenä ja toisiinsa tukeutuvana organismina. Mitä jos juttelen vahingossa tulevalle presidentille? Onneksi hallitustoveri Mathiaksella sentään oli puvun takki päällä!
In addition to this impostor‑syndrome‑like state I just described, I have to admit that I also wondered whether we were about to sit under fluorescent lights eating pastries and drinking weak coffee. Were these going to be the two driest and most awkward days of my life? Pretty soon after arriving, though, it became clear that there were ordinary people just like us at the opening seminar, no reason to panic! And it definitely didn’t end up being boring either, because we were thoroughly equipped with the most up‑to‑date shared understanding of the current landscape of societal advocacy from the perspective of student representation. There was plenty to talk about and marvel at together with both arts and science students. In a way, we were all on average just as confused, and then on average a little wiser when we left. And above all: we were not alone with our worries!
In the discussions and presentations on SYL’s parliamentary election platform, it was reassuring to hear that other student unions share the concerns identified by TaiYo, for instance regarding tuition fees for students from outside the EU, students’ financial security, and the shortage of affordable housing.
We took part in several different workshops during the seminar, covering more specific themes such as climate diplomacy, the therapy guarantee, trade union support for international students, and the accessibility of student events. We also heard an expert talk on multilingualism in organizations and how it relates to experiences of inclusion and the dynamics of power. In other words, many themes that are highly relevant to Uniarts students.
The presentations were genuinely fascinating, and Taru Tujunen’s political situation overview in particular was absolutely spot‑on. Tujunen is a seasoned professional board member, a politics powerhouse with a background in the National Coalition Party, and also a SYL alum who now works, among other things, with Sitra. It was a real treat for political nerds, full of extra insights and fun trivia, while those for whom the twists and turns of the Finnish parliamentary system are less familiar – or whose civics classes are far behind them – were given concrete, neatly packaged information about how elections actually work in practice and when parliamentary election advocacy really happens. For example, I had no idea that once party election platforms are finalized, and once campaigns and government negotiations are underway, it becomes very difficult to make any major impact on the decisions being made. This means that the important work for the next government term’s programme is happening right now!
In addition to its own advocacy work, SYL supports student unions like TaiYo in representing their students’ interests and engaging in parliamentary election advocacy. We learned that it is important to be able to present politicians with proposals that are as concrete as possible, complete with well‑reasoned justifications. I have to admit that this feels rather harsh, especially in situations where the austerity‑based measures of the current decision‑makers have already caused real human suffering and anxiety about making ends meet.
It is a wonderful privilege to be able to say that we are the only student union in Finland that represents exclusively art students,but it is also a major responsibility. In practice, this means that in addition to the general issues affecting students, our advocacy work must place particular emphasis on questions of cultural policy. And although this feels so blindingly obvious to us, we still find ourselves having to explain to decision‑makers and voters, time and time again, why culture is an absolutely central and vital element of a civilized society. Without culture, we have nothing worth defending,as patriotic as that may sound.
Of course, the seminar trip couldn’t be all work and hard facts: we got to enjoy a night at a hotel, a shared vegan dinner, and an after‑party at the nightclub Freetime. In the pulse of the city at night, we continued our relentless discussions on student advocacy and kept on networking. From the perspective of someone studying time and space arts, I genuinely find it fascinating to notice where (and when) political work actually happens: over a pastry in the lobby of the University of Jyväskylä’s C‑building, designed by our country’s top architect, or at four in the morning (well, honestly, at one) in the coat‑check line after karaoke? In these so‑called unconventional settings, the beginnings of major new ideas can often emerge, and we get to know each other as actual human beings, not just as representatives of semi‑anonymous organizations or sub‑organizations’ specialized sub‑committees. Encounters like these are, in my view, worth their weight in gold at a time when broader societal trends are, inevitably, pushing us further apart.
Tea Sirén
Board Member
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