Can ‘kopotus’ kill you?

The Finnish term ‘kopotus’ is a portmanteau of the Finnish words for educational policy and the state of being royally pissed off. It refers to a feeling of being really pissed off caused by educational policy. In this blog post, Venla Lehtinen reflects on the past year as the member of our Board in charge of educational policy.

The year is drawing to a close, making it a good time to pause and reflect on HYY’s past year from the perspective of educational policy. To tell the truth, I have actually reflected on the reasons that originally made me get involved in study advocacy work during my fresher year. My decision was influenced by my own experiences of practices that made students’ everyday life more difficult and the desire to influence them. More recently, my continued advocacy work has also been driven by the fusion of educational policy and the state of being really pissed off, or ‘kopotus’. It could be described as both a driving force and, at the worst, a paralysing factor. In my case, I have managed to channel it into activity, but I do sometimes wonder whether ‘kopotus’ can kill you.

In university administration, ‘kopotus’ manifests in the way in which matters are merely tinkered with, processes do not go anywhere and communication, especially towards students, constantly fails (except by accident). I often find myself sitting in the forty-five millionth meeting that features a repetition of the same discussion points and the reinvention of the wheel. On the other hand, harping on about the same thing sometimes yields results. Since ancient times (or pretty close anyway), the younger student generation has wondered about the possibility of having equal representation in university administration. This work has now paid off and we have equal tripartite representation in all decision-making bodies operating under the Regulations of the University of Helsinki starting from the beginning of 2026. ‘Kopotus’ can thus be fuel for change.

In recent months, I have also understood that one cure for ‘kopotus’ is seeing how student-friendly changes can be achieved at the University through amicable cooperation. It is also worth noting that, in international comparison, Finland is light years ahead in the realisation of university democracy. Students: please utilise this democratic and dialogical system and boldly bring your own views forward in all decision-making forums.

During this year, a major source of alleviation to my ‘kopotus’ has been getting to closely watch the way in which students in organisations and in their student representation duties do invaluable work for a better University and for common good. However, the Student Union still has many ways it could further increase its support for the student community and facilitate its grassroots advocacy work.

Some of my observations, on the other hand, have only served to increase my ‘kopotus’: the culture of prioritising efficiency is undermining our universities and entire society. Academic freedom in Finland is hanging in the balance, and preparations are being made behind the scenes towards the introduction of degree education that is subject to a charge through the Open University. Accessible and free education is not the shared value we thought it was in our society after all and definitely cannot be taken for granted. In political speeches and election pledges, politicians promise that education is under their special protection, but when the time comes for action, it turns out making cuts to education is easy. The University and faculties struggle with a constant lack of resources. How could we save more, what else could we compromise on? This is where the views of students and the University meet. In the best-case scenario, we can act together as an academic community against the austerity policies undermining our national education.

The state of national educational policy is at a standstill and lacks vision, even though some fine-tuning is being branded as a new vision for 2040. Instead of being forced to run after the indicators of funding models, universities must be allowed to conduct research and provide education and culture in peace. Similarly, students must be allowed to study in peace instead of having to stress over their income.

We need students’ voice now more than we have in a long time. We need the courage to challenge the trends that take away hope and the prerequisites of accessible education from universities, students and the entire society. We are at a point where we unfortunately have to once again defend the basic mission of universities: education, research and academic freedom. We also have to defend the most fundamental value of our educational system: education being free. In the next parliamentary elections, I hope that the Student Union and University are ready to stand as a united front and to boldly envision a future based on high-quality education and research.

I will now return to the question I posed at the beginning: can ‘kopotus’ kill you? The answer is no as long as you use it as fuel and a driver for bringing about change.

Venla Lehtinen

Member of the Board in charge of educational policy