The results of the Representative Council elections were announced on Wednesday 4 November. The Union of Alvar received four seat for the period 2022-23: Juho Lavonen (78 votes), Amir Abdelamir (55), Topias Peltonen (38) and Lotta Tuominen (30).

The Union of Alvar lost two seats compared to the last election. However, the result can be seen pretty good considering the fact that our number of candidates dropped. In the 2019 election, AU had 25 candidates, now only 11.

The election results can be viewed in more detail on JYY’s website. The Alvar Union warmly thanks all of our 295 voters!

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The election program of the Union of Alvar 2021

The community in the university is slowly returning to somewhat normal life after the pandemic. However, the students are in a poor situation: the mental health, the ability to cope with study-related workload and sense of community have been under stress for a long time. Student union needs to take initiative in treating these issues. Next year the strategy of the student union is updated, and it is an opportunity to affect these policies. It has also been decided that the goal for the student union’s business needs to produce profit to be used by the basic activities, but how will the profit be used? The visions of the future do not need to concern only the structures and membership fee, but the student union needs to be a strong advocate of student rights even for the future student generations.

Associations are crucial in rebuilding the sense of community
The events organized by the associations operating within JYY have been close to zero for one and a half years. Due to the shortage of experienced active members and the long gap without normal activities, a lot of knowledge has been lost. The training and support by the student union are needed more than ever. The pandemic has been detrimental to the well-being of the board members, and getting new people interested in being active members of the associations has become harder. The associations play a crucial part both when the everyday life of university is being rebuilt, but also with bringing the freshmen of the last few years part of the community.

Goals for the council period 2022–2023:

• JYY will chart the damage caused by COVID-19 in associations, and will train and support the associations in ways they need.
• JYY will make sure that the international associations and non-Finnish speaking people receive sufficient training.
• JYY will put an effort in organizing peer support for association actives.
• JYY will make sure that all the subject associations have sufficient and suitable spaces, but also spaces on the campus to organize events.
• JYY together with the university will investigate the chance of increasing the amount of credits available from being active in associations.

Towards the well-being and functionality of the everyday life of the campuses
The distance learning that has lasted for a year and half has put additional pressure on the strength of the students and on studies. However, there has also been a lot to learn from these special times, and digitalisation has brought new potential practices. The Student Union must be active in promoting the interests of the students. In addition, the Student Union must discuss with the university what kind of life will be on the campuses after the pandemic and how the damages will be repaired when life is returning to normal.

Goals for the council period 2022–2023:

• JYY will investigate the pedagogical reasonableness of online education and how well it suits in studies of different phases. Also, JYY will have an active discussion with the university about how education should be organized from the students’ point of view.
• The resources, accessibility and visibility of Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS), Student Life and student counselling will be drastically increased. Mental health services will have an especial increase in resources.
• The number of student exchanges will be returned to the numbers before the pandemic. JYY will research the reasonableness and popularity of virtual exchanges.
• The internship practices and subsidies will be unified within the university. These will be made more equal between different fields, departments and faculties.
• There will be study spaces open 24/7 in the campus area.
• The participation of the university community in decision making will be appreciated. The student representatives in the decision making of the university must have real opportunities to make a change.

The economic policies of JYY group is predictive of the future and the business operates on the basis of the customers’ wishes
The Soihtu (business side of the student union) will start producing profits to be used in other functions of the student union. WE as a student union need to be active in this issue, and the council of representatives needs to make decisions on what to prioritize: do we wish to lower the membership fee, save money in the back-up fund, compensate emissions, or make new investments. The services of Soihtu need to be developed in a way that reflects the will to serve owner-customers, the students at the university of Jyväskylä.

Goals for the council period 2022–2023:

• In all business and every new investment made by JYY the roadmap of climate sustainability and its commitments about the emission cuts and compensations will be taken into account. JYY will be carbon neutral no later than in 2025.
• The papers directing the business and the economy of JYY will be developed so that the council of representatives can affect the long term direction of the corporate governance of JYY. The economic policy of JYY will be predictable and the students will understand what the concern of the student union contains.
• Soihtu will actively collect feedback and ideas from the tenants to develop its activities. It will be greatly valued that Soihtu is close to the tenants. The board of JYY and the student representatives of the JYY business board will actively follow the business sector in terms of both economic issues and the satisfaction of the tenants.
• Kortepohja, Vehkakuja and Korttelikylä will have active tenants’ committees to promote the sense of community in their areas. Soihtu will have an active dialogue with the tenants’ committees and greatly values their opinions in its projects.