Equal support for all associations

Subject associations do valuable work on the local level, and it’s the role of the Student Union to support them and give them the necessary tools to succeed in their work. JYY facilitates the cooperation between all the associations at the University and treats all its associations equally. The amount of grants given out by the Student Union is at a good level, and a key goal is to increase associations’ knowledge about organizing and participating grants so that more associations would apply for them. Internationality is natural for subject associations, and JYY helps them to achieve this goal.

Goals for the Council term 2020-2021:

• JYY develops the advanced training courses offered to associations.
• JYY ensures that also international associations and non-Finnish speaking board members have access to sufficient training.
• JYY makes an effort to facilitate peer support between board members in different associations.
• JYY strives to make sure that all subject associations have their own sufficient spaces on campus, as well as access to spaces for events.
• JYY develops solutions to help subject associations and international students find each other in the era of GDPR.

Effective and visible advocacy

The Student Union is the only organization, which is committed to advocating for the interests of the students. Advocacy work must be strategic, goal-oriented and systematic. The Student Union must communicate effectively about its advocacy efforts: every student should know what JYY is doing to make their student lives better. The Student Union cooperates closely with subject associations and student representatives in administration when it comes to advocacy within the University.

Goals for the Council term 2020-2021:

• JYY strengthens its collaboration with the student representatives in University administration with closer communication.
• JYY takes on a stronger and more visible role in advocacy at the national level by taking a stand on national issues more often, for example.
• JYY starts to prepare for the municipal elections of 2021 early on and allocates more resources to municipal advocacy to enhance continuity.
• JYY has an active and constructive role in the implementation of the University’s new strategy. JYY capitalizes on the new strategy to improve students’ lives.
• JYY is closely involved in the systematic work done at the University to improve equality.

Truly bilingual and international University

All students at JYU must have accessible opportunities for internationalization. The quality of international master’s degree programmes must be a priority and teachers teaching courses in English must have sufficient language skills. The Union of Alvar opposes the tuition fees collected from students coming from outside of the EU and EEA. The scholarship system must be predictable and easy to understand and it has to take into account questions of accessibility. The academic community should truly be bilingual and equally accessible to those who don’t speak Finnish. Therefore also the Student Union has to ensure that all students have equal opportunities to participate in its activities, which means among other things that it must be possible for international students to operate in the Council and on the Board of Executives. The Student Union does its part to bring Finnish and international students closer to one another.

Goals for the Council term 2020-2021:

• JYY’s translation resources are increased and the possibility to hire a translator trainee is investigated.
• Linguistic accessibility within the Student Union is improved by translating at least summaries of the Council’s agendas and decisions to English.
• JYY influences the University to make its website and the communication within the academic community more accessible to non-Finnish speakers, since all students should have equal access to information.
• JYY strives to ensure that all students have equal opportunities to get international experience through for example an exchange or internship abroad.
• JYY works together with the city of Jyväskylä and other stakeholders to improve the employment opportunites of international students.
• JYY enhances the communication and cooperation between the tutors of domestic and international students.

Pioneering responsibility

All of the Student Union’s activities must ecologically, socially and economically responsible. JYY is a pioneer in implementing the principles of sustainable development at the local level and encourages its stakeholders to set ambitious goals as well. JYY is a responsible employer and looks after the well-being and equal treatment of its employees and student decision-makers. JYY’s finances and properties are responsibly taken care of with the future student generations in mind.

Goals for the Council term 2020-2021:

• JYY creates a plan to make its activities carbon-neutral in the long term.
• JYY actively looks for green financing for its business activities and strives for a minimal carbon footprint in its construction business.
• The recycling opportunities (particularly concerning plastic) are improved in the Kortepohja Student Village, and extra effort is paid to conserve water and energy.
• JYY takes an active role in regional projects of sustainable development and ecological responsibility.
• JYY’s membership fee is not increased without particularly pressing reasons.