Apply to become a student representative!

You will learn many useful skills in the position of student representative, ranging from looking at issues from a wide perspective to project management and group work. The position will also help you get to know University personnel from professors to educational coordinators.

Every year, HYY provides student representatives with free training on issues such as communication, influencing and meeting technique. The network of student representatives and HYY’s Studies Committee also provide you with peer support as well as new friends.

You can apply for a certificate of having served as a student representative from HYY and, under certain conditions, credits from the University. You will need the certificate granted by HYY when applying for credits! You can apply for the certificate from HYY’s document secretary.

As a student representative, you must commit yourself to your duties and attend the meetings of your administrative body, which last a couple of hours. The steering groups of degree programmes usually have meetings at least once a month, excluding vacation periods. Going through the meeting material, asking for opinions from organisations and other students as well as potential prior preparations with the other student representatives in the steering group may also take a varying amount of time. The better you prepare for the meetings, the better you will be able to advocate students’ interests and also get more out of the work yourself!

Usually, vice members can also participate in the meetings of steering groups. It is a good idea to check whether this is the case at the beginning of each term. In any case, always decide among yourselves who is going to attend the meeting to ensure that the meetings always have student representation!

Exchange plans do not necessarily prevent you from being selected. However, we generally hope that student representatives could commit to their duties for as much of their term as possible.

You will never have to work alone in the steering groups of degree programmes! Each steering group has two actual and two vice members who you are expected to closely cooperate with. It is useful to create a shared discussion group for the student representatives of the steering group right at the beginning of your term. You can use the group to decide who is attending the meetings and what stances you will take on the matters discussed in them.

In addition to the student representatives of your own steering group, you can also get peer support from the Studies Committee, which has monthly meetings during the academic year. HYY also organises training events for student representatives and persons in charge of academic affairs. We will inform student representatives of any training events by email and through our social media channels. Remember that you can also always contact HYY’s specialists in educational policy whether you are facing a challenging situation or simply want to ask us about something related to studies!

When applying for a steering group, you must be registered for attendance at the University of Helsinki and be able to justify your connection to the degree programme whose steering group you are applying to in some way. A justified connection exists if you, for instance, study in the degree programme in question or will be studying in the master’s programme of the same degree programme after having completed a bachelor’s degree. Other justifications will also be accepted, such as studying the subject as a minor or having completed a bachelor’s degree in the degree programme. The most important thing here is that you are familiar with the contents and teaching of the degree programme and are thus also able to influence them.

Motivation and experience of serving as a student representative, as a person in charge of academic affairs or in some other position related to student advocacy work are also considered as advantages. We will further assess the applicants’ understanding of current issues in the degree programme on the basis of their applications. Detailed application instructions and criteria can be found in the Halloped application system under each position open for applications!

Working at the University does not prevent you from serving as a student representative in the steering group of a degree programme. Only the student representatives of faculty councils, the collegium and the University Board have limitations related to being employed by the University.

The effects of being employed by the University have been defined in more detail in the University’s . You can also ask for further information about these effects from HYY’s specialist in charge of student representatives.

Positions for student representatives open for applications in the Halloped application system. The details, application criteria and number of open positions are mentioned in the calls for applications in the application system. Always submit your application through the application system.

Your application does not need to be long! Each call for applications will state the things that are considered as advantages for the applicants. You should thus write your application by reflecting on these aspects. If, for instance, motivation is listed as an advantage, you should tell us why you are interested in acting as a student representative in your application.

The method of selecting student representatives depends on the administrative body and is determined by a regulation approved by our Representative Council. In the so-called main calls for applications in the autumn, when we are looking for representatives for an entirely new term, the selection proposals are made by selection committees, as they are the experts on their own faculties’ current affairs and needs.

Selection proposals are only proposals on the selections, not actual decisions. The selection committees each make justification memorandums containing their selection proposal, and HYY’s specialist in educational policy presents these memorandums to the administrative body in HYY that makes the actual decisions. In calls for applications outside the main ones, in other words, in supplementary calls for applications, the selection proposal, justification memorandum and presentation of the matter are done by HYY’s specialist in educational policy.

In the case of faculty councils and the steering groups of degree programmes, the actual decisions on selecting the student representatives are made by HYY’s Board. The dean additionally needs to confirm the selections for the steering groups of degree programmes. In the case of the University Collegium and the University Board, the actual selections are made by HYY’s Representative Council.

HYY occasionally receive direct requests from the University to seek student representatives for new or temporary working groups, for instance. In such cases, the selection proposals are made by HYY’s specialist in educational policy, while HYY’s Board is always in charge of the actual selections. From the applicant’s perspective, though, making a good, well-justified application is the most important thing!

The meetings of the steering groups of degree programmes are usually fairly informal and deliberative. The frequency of the steering groups’ meetings varies from one degree programme to another. Depending on the time of the year, the issues discussed in the meetings deal with various aspects of the degree programme’s operation: the selection and orientation of new students, degree requirements and the organisation of the next year’s teaching. Members of the steering group work together on concrete planning and preparatory work that helps define what courses are taught in the schedule, which studies are compulsory for everyone, how much optional studies can be included in degrees, what kind of study material and teaching methods are used on courses and what kind of methods to complete courses each course has.