Jutut kategoriassa In English - Page 13 of 30

Frank opened its service for all students, the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences SAMOK prepares for changes

September brought about some changes: Frank Students opened their digital service for all students in Finland. This means that now, if the student wants to get the digital student card, they don’t have to be a member of a student union who has an agreement with Frank. For now, the change applies only to those higher education students whose student union is not Frank’s partner. Armi Murto, Executive Director in the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK), states that possible impacts of the change become clearer later in the autumn. “The change in our operational environment has forced us to do a tremendous work in developing, but no one has given up, we keep the positive spirit up – even though this is a serious matter.”

In English

TEKSTI Anni Hyypiö

KUVAT Anni Hyypiö

In Finnish

The student utility service Frank Students informed on Monday, 16 Sept that they have opened Frank App service for all student in Finland. Every student in upper secondary and higher level can register in the service and make use of student discounts negotiated by Frank.

Opening the service means also that in order to get a digital student identity card, the student doesn’t have to be a member of a student union who has an agreement with Frank. Frank can verify the student status either through partner unions or through My Studyinfo service maintained by the National Board of Education.

Almost all student unions of Finnish universities of applied sciences (UAS) as well as student unions of the universities of Oulu and Vaasa have ended their partnership with Frank. Institutes of higher education also in Tampere have been outside of Frank’s scope. Now, for the first time, Frank can offer their student card for student in Tampere as well.

Digital card initially available for university students

For now, the change in digital student card applies only to students of universities whose student union is not partner with Frank. Therefore, students in upper secondary schools need to belong to either in the Union of Upper Secondary School Students in Finland (SLL) or the National Union of Vocational Students in Finland (SAKKI) in order to get a student card.

Tiia Lehtola, CEO of Frank, gives two reasons for this solution. First of all, there are different things to take into account when it comes to minor customers. Not all of them have the online banking codes that the new way of registering needs. Also, Frank wants to stagger the big change.

“We are now discussing this with the student unions, and we’ll move forward when we’re ready. When the service becomes accessible also for those upper secondary students who are not part of a student union, the next version of membership recruitment integration should also be available in Frank’s service. This way we still support the student unions’ recruitment of members.”

The service opened on the week 37. According to Lehtola, over thousand new students registered Frank’s digital student card during the first week. Most of the new users are students in the biggest universities of applied sciences in Finland, says Lehtola.

She is glad that users are university students from all over Finland – also from those universities that have ended their partnership with Frank.

“We are happy that the students have found Frank. We haven’t informed about it in particular, except for notifying about an application update and posting in our own channels. It seems that the possibility to use Frank has spread quite organically among the students,” Lehtola says.

According to Tiia Lehtola, Frank App has around 80,000 monthly users at the moment. She is pleased with the amount.

“I believe that the average number of active monthly users increases to over 80,000, and I see it’s possible to reach 100,000 users next year at the latest.”

First news came already in 2016

The majority owner of Frank is Kilroy travel agency, and national student unions the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), the Union of Upper Secondary School Students in Finland (SLL), the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK), and the National Union of Vocational Students in Finland (SAKKI) have minor ownership.

In 2016 was the first time Frank informed about their plans to open the digital student card service. Already back then they told that the service would open first to university and UAS students. This year, on 29 August, Oulu Student Magazine wrote that the service would possibly open this autumn.

In the announcement sent to the student magazines, Frank gives two reasons for the change in Frank App: goal to make every student’s life better and the change in operational environment.

Now that the student status verification is not exclusive to student unions only, the student card market has drastically changed. Student status information of 1.3 million degree students in all 38 Finnish higher education institutions is available in the VIRTA higher education achievement register. In addition to active students, the number also includes students who have already graduated. According to the Central Statistical Office of Finland, in 2018 there were around 153,400 university students and 128,500 UAS students. In vocational training leading to a degree there were around 322,200 students and around 103,400 students in upper secondary school.

At the end of the year 2016, the information about Frank’s decision to open their digital student card service caused worry about student unions’ own member recruitment. According to the current Universities Act, a university student has to be a member of a student union in order to get a degree, but this applies neither to UAS students nor upper secondary students. That’s why offering a student card through the student union has been a strong method for recruiting new members.

When membership in a student union is not necessary to get a student card, what happens to student unions and their member recruitment?

In 2016, Turun Sanomat (12 Dec 2016) and Kaleva (15 Dec 2016), among other papers, wrote about the student unions’ concerns.

In Frank’s announcement sent on September 16, three student unions assured that, in addition to the student card, there are other benefits in joining the union.

“The situation of joining the student union is about to change regardless of Frank, when the student can get the card already before joining the student union. By collaborating with Frank, we can make the it as easy and tempting to join the union as possible. Of course, there are other benefits of being a member in student union than just the card. If the user acquisition goes well, we can tell this message even more effectively than now also to those students that we wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise,” comment the three Secretary Generals Heikki Luoto (SLL), Hanna Huumonen (SAKKI), and Eero Manninen (SYL).

Change is in the air, but of what kind?

There was one student union with ownership in Frank that didn’t give their comment in the announcement. It is SAMOK, the union that represents the UAS students in Finland. Most of the UAS student unions have terminated their contract with Frank, and SAMOK themself has been about to sell their part of Frank, according to the position adopted in the SAMOK general assembly in autumn 2018.

Armi Murto, Executive Director in SAMOK, stated that the ownership hasn’t been sold yet. Still, it remains the objective, she says.

“We try to take steps towards that. It is the decision that has been made, and I try to implement it to the best of my ability.”

As newly selected Executive Director in SAMOK, Murto deems it regrettable that the cooperation between Frank and the student unions hasn’t been successful.

“We have been aware that some kind of changes are coming to the student card market, and the student unions have prepared for the big changes to the best of their abilities. At the moment, I hope that our objective on selling the ownership is carried out as soon as possible, and that we can conclude our general assembly’s hope.”

Does this change in Frank mean turbulence in the field of student unions?

“At least it has brought changes with it as well as caused worry. The change in our operational environment has forced us to do a tremendous work in developing, no one has given up but keeps the positive spirit up – although this is a serious matter,” Armi Murto formulates.

According to Murto, at this point it is still hard to predict how the opening of services affects the student unions’ actions. The student unions have contemplated whether the change takes away their potential members.

Then again, Murto estimates that the student unions have now focused on developing and expanding their membership activities, communicating about their work in representing students’ interests, and about other important work that they do for UAS students. She thinks it has been great to see the developing work in the student unions.

“They have found different solutions: they have tightened the collaboration among themselves and found different alternatives when it comes to service providers, for example, with the student cards. They have exceptionally prepared for the change in the operational environment by focusing on what they should: developing their own actions. Then again, the concern for member decrease is valid and I understand their concern.”

According to her, the possible effects of the change come clearer later in the autumn: “It is always smart to go through what kind of effects are possible and how to react to them. This autumn, we’re focusing on that the student unions recruit members and with positive attitude. After that we see whether their development work has borne anything, and we can evaluate what to change in the future.”

The union looks forward

At the moment, around half of the 140,000 Finnish UAS students are part of the student unions. According to Armi Murto, the degree of unionization has been on the rise during SAMOK’s history.

“Over the years, there have been some slumps, but they have been turned to rise.”

SAMOK, too, follows the development of student unions’ members amount. According to Murto, the union has just drawn up the budget for 2020, and as a part of it, they have predicted a slump in number of members because of the changes in their environment.

Financial planning is done as realistically as possible, according to Armi Murto, and based on member reports from the student unions.

“Regardless of this, we look forward and hope to offer the best service in student representation and influencing for UAS students.”

Translation: Essi Ranta.

More on changes in the student card: More Choices for a Student Card in Oulu: OYY Terminated Contract with Frank and Made a Deal With Pivo for Electronic Student Card

The illustrations uses Prettycons’s and Good Ware’s icons from flaticon.com.

Edited on the 18th of October, 2019 at 8:57 am: Edited the amount of information in VIRTA service, added information that the 1,3 million includes not only the current university and UAS students but also graduated students. Added the Central Statistical Offices’s information about amount of students in universities and universities of applied sciences as well as in vocational and upper secondary schools.

Julkaistu 8.10.20191.2.2023

Anni Hyypiö

Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Twitter: @AnniHyypio

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Halloped represents the students’ voice in the decision-making – You can be the one to start the domino effect

"If the students are not included in the decision-making process, their voice can easily be forgotten", writes Sanna Kangasniemi. According to her, students’ viewpoints and visions should be seen and heard in the university.

In English Kolumni

TEKSTI Sanna Kangasniemi

In Finnish

What to do if the the quality of food has declined, the weight of the curriculum is too heavy, or the schedule doesn’t match the reality? You can contact a halloped, the student representative in the university administration. Hallopeds do valuable work for a better university and act as student representatives in working groups and administrative bodies.

If the students are not included in the decision-making process, their voice can easily be forgotten. They really are worth listening to — after all, students are the best experts on their studies and everyday life.

Both public universities and foundation universities in Finland are based on an idea of an academic community, and in the community’s core are professors, university staff, and students. This is to make sure that the academic community uses all their know-how when making decisions. These three groups also lead the University of Oulu by representing in different bodies according to the Universities Act and the Regulations of the University of Oulu. Hallopeds are exactly what is needed to ensure that the students’ viewpoints and visions are seen and heard in the university.

As student representatives, hallopeds have the chance to familiarise themselves on how the management of a big scientific institute works. Hallopeds learn meeting and negotiation skills and broaden their own views on decision-making in different administration levels. There are many places where student representation is needed. The University Board of Directors has the highest decision-making powers in the university. Among other things, the Board decides on the essential objectives for actions and finances as well as on the strategy. In addition to the Board of Directors, hallopeds get to represent in the University Collegium, Education Council and Education Management Group, the Faculties’ boards, councils, education committees, and degree program teams. There are also Health and Wellbeing Working Groups, Equality and Diversity Working Groups, and two Restaurant Working Groups.

Hallopeds learn about the University’s quality management and personnel matters as well as education development. The student representative also gets to connect with other representatives in the academic community. Discussing and exchanging views are valuable part of the job.

Besides the internal administrative bodies, the student representatives influence in bodies external to the University of Oulu, such as in the boards of Uniresta Oy, Oulun ylioppilasapu ry (“Student Help Association in Oulu”) and PSOAS, in national FSHS Council and in local Board of Directors of FSHS Unit in Oulu. So, the students’ voice isn’t limited to the university’s walls.

I have myself worked as a student representative on the other side of the dual model, in the university of applied sciences. I participated in decision-making process in internal and external bodies, like campus’s student well-being groups, campus’s study collegium and degree program team. As a student representative, I quickly noticed that not everything is as simple as it seems to students. For example, in the Oulu University of Applied Sciences the need of another study psychologist had been recognised and acknowledged, but it took over a year of lobbying and multiple inquiries and consultations between different bodies to actually make the decision of hiring a study psychologist. The university is run by a huge administrative machine that observes and makes decision which have an effect on, among other things, students’ well-being, education quality, and university’s reputation.

However, I have noticed that even a one small decision can have a domino effect, where one thing or person causes a chain of events. That is why I encourage everyone to apply for halloped: you can be the first domino to cause the change.

There are over 100 student representatives in the administration chosen by OYY’s Executive Board or the Student Council. You can apply for halloped from the beginning of October at halloped.fi.

Translation: Essi Ranta.

Julkaistu 4.10.20191.2.2023

Sanna Kangasniemi

OYY:n sosiaalipoliittinen asiantuntija, jonka mielestä jokainen päivä on mahdollisuus.

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Hi, 5 dualities of getting a PhD

Doctoral studies are unlike regular Bachelor or Master studies. In regular studies, the majority of the time is spent attending courses and taking exams, with the objective of increasing your knowledge and your ability to learn and retain information. On the other hand, in a PhD, you are expected to find information, understand it, make new information, and present it in a concise manner with meaningful conclusions. There is a dual nature in the experience of research aimed at a doctoral degree. The following 5 dualities of PhD studies may shine a light on what you can expect.

In English

TEKSTI Marcelo Goldmann

Still in school but no longer a student

Academic work is done usually at the university. However, you will become an employee, and no longer have student rights, such as the cheapest food at the cafeteria. You will still get a staff discount though, so it’s not too bad. Additionally, if you feel like still socializing at a student level, you will find it very difficult as your PhD will be literally a job, with work times, salary, holidays, etc. Some of your peers might still be frequenting social events, while you may not be able to due to your having to be in the office the next day in the morning.

More money but less money

In Finland, PhD salaries are very fair. However, they can be on average below the salaries offered by private companies. Nevertheless, coming from a student allowance to an actual salary (or grant) is a great upgrade. And speaking of grants, there is a caveat that if there is no salary budgeted for your position, you might have to rely on applying to numerous grants to sustain your work and livelihood. And in general, personal grants are usually not as large as salaries.

Flexible time and overtime

Normally, you will have a large amount of control on how many hours you spend at the office or laboratory and how many hours you spend outside of it. Of course you will have to agree with your Professor on that matter. Some research units like that their researchers do the classic 9-to-5 work, while others allow you to work flexibly as long as you get your results on time. This is a big advantage, as it allows you to balance your work life and personal life effectively. However, this can also lead to long work days and even work weekends, which will of course does not translate to extra pay. The author does not recommend taking work home or working on weekends.

A thankless gratifying endeavour

In the past they said that “great science is built on the shoulders of giants”. Nowadays, research appears to be built on the shoulders of thousands of tiny giants. And your scientific contribution might feel like a speck of dust in a universe of publications. Unless you happen to do some groundbreaking work that is published in a famous international journal, you may feel that your work is unappreciated. However, not only is your work one of those giants on which future researchers will stand, but also there are few things as gratifying as receiving that email that your paper was accepted for publication.

A great job in the future that will be hard to get

Getting a job after graduation is hard for everyone. However, for a PhD graduate, it might be even harder. There are two choices for a PhD graduate: a tenure track career path in Academia or a company job. Both have their pros and cons and their challenges. A tenure track is a pathway to a permanent position at a university, while a company job is self explanatory. Being granted a tenure track position can be very challenging due to the very few positions usually available and the high competition. Additionally, you might need to do a 2-year postdoc before you are even eligible for it. If you decide to go for a company job, you will find yourself with the similar issues regarding offer and competition. Your knowledge at this point will be very specialized so it might be difficult to find a position in a company that fits your expertise. But once you land either a tenure track position or a company job, you will be filled with great satisfaction and new challenges.

Naturally everyone’s experience will be different. Some people will have an easy time and some will have a very hard time. Most will have a combination of ups and downs. However, if you feel lost, you should always have a conversation with your PhD supervisor or advisor, and they will certainly guide you in the right direction.

Edited 26.9.2019 22.15: Clarified wording on tenure track career path and tenure track positions.

Julkaistu 26.9.20191.2.2023

Marcelo Goldmann

A Doctor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Oulu. "Life is like a rubber duckie, you gotta keep it afloat to see its splendor." Instagram: @marcelogman

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Preparing for Crowds at the University – Juvenes Tries Self-checkout Machines, Uniresta Developes Medisiina’s Lunch Lines

If you've ever visited the restaurants at the campuses at noon, you've seen it: the lunch lines are very long. Next year, the amount of people who eat at the Linnanmaa campus grows by several thousand, when Oamk moves there. The Kontinkangas campus' restaurant, Medisiina, has also been crowded. Juvenes is testing self-checkout counters in two of their restaurants, and Uniresta is also considering them.

In English

TEKSTI Helmi Juntunen

KUVAT Helmi Juntunen

In Finnish

Self-checkout has become a common practice in stores and supermarkets. In August, self-checkout machines have arrived in the Linnanmaa campus, in the Juvenes’s restaurants Napa and Foobar.

“The purpose of self-checkout machines is to help with rush hours and to move customer service away from the traditional checkout counters. The main duties of the staff will be guiding and advising”, says the business controller of Juvenes, Fanni Kempas.

Kempas says that the pilot project will be supervised for a few months. After that Juvenes will consider whether they’ll implement self-checkout counters to their other restaurants. According to Kempas, the machines wont fit in all their restaurants due to differences in the way the restaurants work.

Self-checkout lanes have brought with them changes to both the way paying works and the way student status is checked. You pay the food first, and then you gather the food to your plate. Additional portions and desserts need to be paid separately.

The students use the Tuudo app to access the self-checkout machine and proceed to pay their lunch and possible additional items by card – you won’t be able to use cash. Self-checkout lanes are also available to the staff of the university, doctoral students and visitors.

Similar self-checkout solutions with Tuudo have been previously implemented in two student restaurants in the Capital Region, according to Tuudo.

In addition to the self-checkout project, Juvenes begins a project along with researchers of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland with the aim to research the flow of customers and queueing with the use of tracking devices. The goal is to make using the restaurant a smoother experience. The tracking devices used won’t gather data that would make it possible to single out people, so the customers’ right to privacy is not infringed upon.

In addition to Foobar and Napa, Juvenes owns two restaurants at the University of Oulu, Foodoo and Kylymä, as well as three cafés, Tellus, Juicebar and Café Hub. All of them are located at the Linnanmaa campus.

Uniresta: Self-checkout Is the Future

In addition to Juvenes, Uniresta has also considered self-checkout counters. Uniresta, which owned by the Student Union and Oulun ylioppilasapu, owns two student restaurants, Kastari at the Linnanmaa campus and Medisiina at the Kontinkangas campus.

“We are looking into it at the moment, but we didn’t want to be in the vanguard. Self-checkout is definitely a thing which divides customers. We’ve received feedback at Kastari that it’s wonderful to have a real person behind the counter”, says CEO Kaija-Liisa Silvennoinen of Uniresta.

Silvennoinen says that ultimately self-checkout machines would be useful. She says they are the future.

“The way I see the advantage of self-checkout is that the staff is freed to serve the customer better, when there is less mechanical work to do”, says Silvennoinen.

Silvennoinen says that the locations of the self-checkout counters would need to be carefully planned.

“In busy places they would help with the peak of the traffic. At first, when people are just learning to use them, it might slow things down a bit. I do believe that Uniresta will eventually have self-checkout counters”, Silvennoinen says.

According to Silvennoinen, more pressing matters to Uniresta would be the development of the lunch line in Kastari and increasing customer capacity, but the university makes the decisions when it comes to facilities.

At the Kontinkangas campus, the restaurant Medisiina has also suffered from congestion. Silvennoinen says that the problem has been acknowledged and solutions have been planned.

“For Medisiina we have a plan to develop the lunch line, but that would require an investment from the university. Uniresta has been active in the matter”, Silvennoinen says.

Uniresta would develop the line in Medisiina to be a single long line, where the staff could work in the middle and the customers would be on the two sides. According to Kaija-Liisa Silvennoinen, the plan is ready to be enacted.

“From the beginning of September, Cafe Galenos at Kontinkangas will offer a take away lunch option. In a similar manner, H2O Campus helps with the situation at Kastari. At least the staff of the university are patrons, which is somewhat helpful”, Silvennoinen says.

University of Oulu’s Head of facility services Arto Haverinen and cadastral surveyor Timo Haverinen said that the need to change Medisiina’s lunch line has been discussed for a while. The lines will be changed next year according to Uniresta’s plan.

More accurate schedule for the project or Kastari’s situation, were things neither could comment on at the moment.

Translation: Helmi Juntunen.

Julkaistu 13.9.20191.2.2023

Helmi Juntunen

Oululainen metamoderni antropologi ja mielten välisen etäisyyden avaruuscowgirl.

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More Choices for a Student Card in Oulu: OYY Terminated Contract with Frank and Made a Deal With Pivo for Electronic Student Card

Things are changing once again when it comes to student cards. This fall University of Oulu's students have a choice between Pivo's, Tuudo's or Frank's student card for their smartphones.

In English Yleinen

TEKSTI Anni Hyypiö

In Finnish

The Student Union of the University of Oulu (OYY) has made a new arrangement regarding the provider for an electronic student card. At the end of summer, OYY has terminated co-operation with Frank Students and has made a contract with Pivo, which is part of OP Financial Group.

Pivo is a mobile app published in 2013 which can be used to pay in online shopping and cash registers as well as send and request money regardless of your own or the reciever’s bank. There is also a digital student card in Pivo which is used in 20 student associations – and now in Oulu as well.

In January students of the University of Oulu also gained access to student ID in the Tuudo mobile app. So from this fall onward students can use either the electronic student card found in Tuudo or Pivo’s card. The nationwide Frank App can still be used even though OYY has terminated their contract.

“Students can use the card under the JOLLA accumulator connection until we have a new register, after which we will confirm for example the student status of University of Oulu’s students using it”, says Frank’s CEO Tiia Lehtola.

Chair of Board Miriam Putula justifies the collaboration with Pivo by the fact that Pivo and Tuudo are different as service providers.

“Tuudo offers a platform for different services which a student needs. Pivo offers student privileges negotiated by Slice in addition to a card. The service concept is quite different, very similar to Frank.”

OYY’s board decided in August that it won’t renew the contract regarding the delivery of a student card with Frank. Putula won’t comment on the contents of the contract with Frank but she says it contained clauses which weren’t beneficial to the Student Union.

“We want to offer students as wide an array of services as possible and there were obstacles concerning that.”

After the contract with Frank has ended OYY will order new plastic student cards from Antenna. An ordered and operational Frank’s plastic student card can still be used as usual.

Pivo’s digital card has been in use for a few years in Tampere Student Union and beginning this August in The Student Union of the University of Vaasa as well. In Pivo’s app and website are also listed The Student Union of Lappeenranta University of Technology (LTKY) and The Student Union of the University of Eastern Finland (ISYY), although LTKY’s own website lists Frank as a student card provider and ISYY’s Frank and Pivo.

Oulu Student Magazine told about the upheaval of electronic students cards in the start of the year. You can read the story (in Finnish only) here.

Pivo and Slice to Co-operate

Pivo itself has had announcing to do in the late summer. Pivo and Slice, which was founded in the Satakunta region, announced their collaboration 7th of August.

Business owner Matti Rusila says that in principle the collaboration means that Slice can offer student benefits which it has negotiated to the organizations that have signed a contract with Pivo. Additionally, the organizations which used to be users of Slice’s own student card now came under Pivo’s card.

“Slice’s strength are benefits, we on the other hand have a big platform. Thus collaboration is a good choice.”

How does Pivo benefit from the collaboration? According to Matti Rusila Pivo wants to offer their card as widely as possible and be a significant actor in the market. Because student card market is — according to Rusila — quite fragmented, Slice and Pivo discovered that joining forces would be reasonable.

How Are You Doing, Frank?

But what’s going on with Frank Students? Frank was a pioneer of digital student cards in Finland: Frank App was launched three years ago. Although the idea of a digital card was thought of as progressive and good, the app got critiqued because of ads and various issues in using it.

Oulu Student Magazine talked about the critique in a story published earlier this year. One of the targets of critique was that the digital card needed to be paid for.

Frank App’s digital student card has again been available for free starting from the 25th of June. Now Frank’s digital card is free with or without Danske Bank’s plastic card with a payment feature. A new perk is also that the student gets a free five-year international ISIC student ID (worth 16 euros). When ordered from Frank, just the plastic card without the collaboration with Danske Bank costs 16,10 euros plus the delivery fee.

Earlier investment in developing the service is visible in Frank’s earnings. In the end of the fiscal year 2018, the equity ratio was negative 68 percent. Revenue was 952,000 euros last year and the profit was negative by 362,000 euros. That is, however, a fair rise compared to the year 2017 when the profit was negative by 674,000 euros.

Frank’s CEO Tiia Lehtola says last years numbers were what was aimed at.

“It’s a fact that there are big investments in the backround, growth requires investment. Starting from 2016, we have invested in the development of our digital service. In last year’s numbers, the operating profit, earnings and net sales excluding non-recurring items got better. It’s always an open question how to increase the slope of growth and we have open discussions concerning it.”

Now Frank is on the path which it wants to be on, Lehtola says.

“The early year’s results have been good. We are on the path we have planned and desired.”

When it comes to universities of applied sciences, Frank is currently only collaborating with the Student Union of Police University College (PolAmk) and the Student Union of Åland University of Applied Sciences. Others have terminated their contract.

“Of course we are sorry that student unions have not seen the added value in our service which we can provide. We would obviously want to be the one student unions choose because we believe that we are building additional value for student unions and we can work even better than before in recruitment of members in the future. We think collaboration between student unions is very important and that’s why we also develop new services for them – in addition to individual students”, Tiia Lehtola says.

Lehtola wishes that the organizations which have already terminated their collaboration would become interested in Frank’s services again: namely, the company would like to support the the recruitment of new members. When talking about new services aimed at organizations, Lehtola mentions communication related to student council election, which is aimed at student unions and will be piloted with Aalto University Student Union (AYY). In addition to this there will be “something cool” in store for subject societies.

“We’ll tell more about it when the time is right.”

SYL Not Intending to Sell

Frank is owned by travel agency Kilroy and the national student associations National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), University of Applied Sciences Students in Finland (SAMOK), The Union of Upper Secondary School Students (SLL) and National Union of Vocational Students in Finland (SAKKI). With the sales made in 2017, Fank now owns the majority of Kilroy.

But what is the situation like for SYL, if their member student unions decide to give up Frank? Should student unions be owners in the future? After all, student unions of Oulu, Vaasa and Tampere are still owners of Frank through National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL). Tampere is different when compared to others in the fact that Frank was not used there in the first place. The higher education in Tampere didn’t take part in Frank or Lyyra, which preceded Frank.

Secretary General Eero Manninen says SYL hasn’t discussed their ownership. Thus, there is no known intention of selling.

Even though SAMOK, which represents university of applied sciences students, is selling their share, Manninen says that the rest of the owning organizations have committed to their ownership.

He deems the choices made by student unions to give up co-operation to be regrettable. Still, the conversation with both Vaasa and Oulu has been good and constructive, he says.

“I got the impression that the possibility for co-operation in the future hasn’t been completely ruled out.”

“In a way I’d hope that people would understand the uniqueness of Frank. At least in the European countries that I am aware of, Frank is the only one in which student organizations are in a major arena, owning and making decisions. Seeing the value of that in student unions and the field of higher education would be great. But that is not enough in the modern world: there needs to be, obviously, a service students enjoy to use.”

Frank has garnered criticism from students in both App Store and Google Play and also at the SYL General Assembly last November. The General Assembly is the highest governing body of SYL, which gathers once a year, and to which every member of the union sends their delegation to decide the union’s course of action for the next year as well as economical questions and to choose the board for the coming year.

Eero Manninen says that last fall was hard. He understands why there was so much criticism, though.

“In hindsight, too many things were done in too short of a time. I get the discontent: the service wasn’t working as well as it should have. We went through the feedback together with Frank and the student unions. This year has been going smoothly. We hope that things will stay that way.”

Manninen says the criticism Frank got in the General Assembly was sudden, and that SYL hadn’t prepared for it. The conversation could have gone better, Manninen estimates.

“The conversation didn’t go deeper into ownership, the way things worked and the fact that the digital card wasn’t free were the points of discontent.”

Frank Opening for All

At the moment, students must be a part of a student organization co-operating with Frank to get their student card. This is changing, possibly even during this fall, Tiia Lehtola says.

Frank is currently preparing a second path for students to get Frank’s card, whether they are a member of a student organization, or if their organization is co-operating with Frank or not.

Lehtola won’t tell the launching date as of now.

“We’ll communicate when the matter becomes topical. The development of products is cyclical. But the initial schedule is that it would be in use this fall.”

Lehtola says that the change will be made in stages: this means the service won’t most likely be open to all students at the same time.

Will Pivo offer their student card in other ways than through an organization in the future?

“The confirmation of student status could be obtained in other ways that from organizations. We’ve thought that the fairest way is to co-operate with the organizations, which means offering the card to members of the organization,” Matti Rusila says.

The Future Looks Positive

The opening of student information records has opened a new kind of market for student cards.

Now that the card market is going through changes, why should organizations even own a single student card?

Eero Manninen, Secretary general of SYL, has many reasons for that. One the most important reasons hasn’t changed in these years of turmoil.

“The basic principle remains unchanged: the fact that we get to be a part of developing and telling our wishes to the largest company offering student ID. Getting up to date service which takes into account the wishes of students has a value of its own.”

Of course there is a possibility to make money by owning Frank, Manninen says.

“If we could get a hold of that market in a big way and go international, it would be a huge source of revenue. It’s been thought about ever since Frank was founded. Many commercial partners see it as a very significant added value that the national student organizations are a part of the company. The student organizations’ input is crucial to the other owner, Kilroy, as well.

With so many card providers and the option for both organizations and students to choose between a multitude of choices, why would they choose Frank of all the options?

Tiia Lehtola has a list of advantages. There’s integration with online shopping, ease of use and collaboration with ISIC to name a few.

A major selling point are the offered benefits, which means various student discounts: on Monday 19th of August, a quick search yields a trip to Thailand with as much as 70 percent discount, a student ticket to see the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (8 euros) and a 25 percent discount in sportswear shop Stadium.

Local advantages for anyone who’s not from Helsinki are relatively scarce.

“We have focused on national benefits because we serve secondary and higher education students on a national level, and on known brands, because we have deemed them to interest students. But we also want to increase the offering of local benefits. Local benefits are at the moment free to enter our service”, Lehtola says.

Is going international still in the plans for Frank?

“It’s still a possible scenario for the future. We are investigating and having conversations of the matter. No decisions have been made.”

Where will Frank be in five years, Tiia Lehtola?

“Frank is a service for every Finnish student, or students studying in Finland. We have come to the situation that every student can find the benefits we offer. Our collaboration with ISIC has gone really well in Finland and we’ll see whether there is something to offer on an international level – I can see at least these things in my crystal ball. We’ll see what other developments there will be in the field.”

Eero Manninen, secretary general of SYL, feels positive about Frank’s future.

“We will see what the future has in store. Frank has a good product and the ideas for development are good stuff. Let’s hope that we’ll get things off the ground and that it would be a profitable business in the future and the national number one actor in the field in the future as well.”

But if SYL would end up selling their share, who would be making the decision? Eero Manninen considers this scenario to be highly unlikely but he estimates that, depending on the situation, the decision would be made either by SYL’s board or in an additional General Assembly.

“But I would hope, since it’s a business decision, that it would be something else altogether than a decision of organizational politics.”

Translation: Helmi Juntunen.

Julkaistu 11.9.20191.2.2023

Anni Hyypiö

Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Twitter: @AnniHyypio

Lue lisää:

“I can’t solve almost anything, but at least I can point to who to bother” – Bruno Gioia Sandler Learns from Struggles and Doesn’t Tire of Obstacles

The president of the umbrella guild of the Faculty of Education Bruno Gioia Sandler went from an outsider to the centre of action. To him surpassing obstacles is so obvious that when you ask him why he fights, the answer is simple: Because I can.

In English

TEKSTI Iida Putkonen

KUVAT Elina Korpi

In Finnish.

Bruno Gioia Sandler was not supposed to end up in Oulu, let alone stay here.

However, when he was studying marketing and business abroad, he met Jenni from Finland.

“You could say I came here for love.”

Five years after coming to Finland, Gioia Sandler is still in Oulu. The reason he stayed was finding a field that felt like his own, even after a rocky start.

The first time Gioia Sandler felt like an outsider was the day of the entrance exam.

“I saw all these young Finnish people and all their markers and their mind maps, and I was there, an older guy with two pens.“

The feeling of foreignness didn not end even when he got accepted into the University. Gioia Sandler was the only international freshman in OLO ry, the organization for students of educational sciences, and the freshman guide didn not have an English word in it.

The struggle did not discourage Gioia Sandler, instead it fed his desire to make an impact.

From personal to the battlefield

“I have a utopian world in my head, and I try to work for that”, Gioia Sandler says.

In the utopia people work for common good and everyone can have an impact, not just the people who have the right cards in their hands.

Personally Gioia Sandler feels like he was dealt a good hand, and that makes it his responsibility to act.

After facing inequality as an international student, Gioia Sandler wanted to improve the situation of everyone facing the same issues at University. In his second year he joined OLO’s board and attacked an issue familiar to him: language.

“If there is no non-Finnish person, you might not even notice something isn’t available in English”, Gioia Sandler says.

Soon the desire to change things grew and Gioia Sandler ran for the Student Council, edari. To his surprise, he was elected.

As a member of the council Gioia Sandler wanted to make international students’ experiences heard, but he was the one who saw things he had been blind to.

“Before then I didn’t have contact with students from other faculties or programs. Edari showed me that all the students are suffering from really similar things”, he says.

These days Gioia Sandler is making an impact in the umbrella guild of the Faculty of Education, Kaski ry, as a founding member and the current president. He says fellow students come to him with their problems. Despite his busy schedule, he does not mind, instead, it makes him happy.

“In my first year I felt like I had struggles one after another and didn’t have someone I could talk to or get advice from. That’s why I’m humbled that people come to me.”

Gioia Sandler wants to stress that regardless of his visible role, he has not been alone, and that there have been a lot of people supporting him and fighting along.

“I hate this picture of the hero. Some people have asked me how do you do it. It’s not just me, there are a lot of people who have been on board”, he says.

Even though he will not agree to being a hero, the president is glad to help.

“I can’t solve almost anything, but at least I can point to who to bother.”

Teaching is a way to make an impact

Before studying intercultural teaching, Gioia Sandler studied mechanical engineering, car mechanics, and business and marketing in Spain. Despite multiple different fields, he did not find the right fit.

Teaching was at no point Gioia Sandler’s first choice or dream career – quite the opposite in fact. Where his classmates tell stories of wanting to be teachers ever since they were kids, the thought of becoming one did not hit Gioia Sandler until later in life.

“For me teachers have been a bit the enemy all my life. I’ve struggled with many teachers”, he says.

Bad experiences with teachers did, however, make Gioia Sandler think about the responsibilities of a teacher, both negative and positive ones.

“I understood teachers affect what the world will turn out like. That’s when something clicked in my head and said ‘this could be my thing.’”

Despite his utopian idealism Gioia Sandler aims to find concrete tools to make a change. For him, teaching is one of these tools: a way to affect his environment.

“You see a lot going on in the news and it feels the world is collapsing and things are out of our hands. Maybe that’s why I continue with what I can have an impact on. I try to bring that fight to the field I have”, he explains.

Failing is the greatest lesson

The path has not always been easy or rewarding, but to Gioia Sandler the most important lesson is to be found in difficult times.

“It might suck and it’s gonna be painful but you can take something out of it.”

To Gioia Sandler the biggest lesson at University has been how to deal with difficulties and get over them.

“Most of the time I’m crashing against the walls and getting frustrated.”

What if the wall will not budge?

Well, then you back up a bit and go in again, faster the second time. You can also try with a friend or try a different angle. And if all else fails, bring a big hammer, Gioia Sandler says.

There are rewarding times too. Gioia Sandler thinks the best is seeing how his own battles have helped others. He thinks that there have been big improvements in taking international students into account.

“I almost got a tear in my eye when I saw that everything in the new OLO freshman guide was bilingual”, he says.

Only five years ago Gioia Sandler was alone, without the needed info or connections. Now thanks to him the new students have it a bit easier.

And even if most students will not see the change, Gioia Sandler does not mind.

“Maybe there is only one student, who it matters to. But thinking that when do something for a minority, it might give them hope.”

Bruno Gioia Sandler, what advice would you give to people starting their studies?
1. “Be active. University is a safe place to practise. If you cannot participate, at least support those who do. Build more than you destroy. ”
2. “Get to know yourself by leaving your comfort zone. By knowing yourself you’ll notice when you need to take a step back, and you will not burn out.”
3. “If you do not know, ask. More experienced people will gladly help. Try to lean on others when you need to.”
4. “Don’t care about Jodel.”

Who?

Bruno Gioia Sandler

» 31 years old.
» 5th year intercultural teacher education student.
» Lives in Oulu with his girlfriend.
» Born in Argentina, raised in Spain and has lived all over.
» The president of Kaski ry and a member of the Student Council of the Student Union of the University of Oulu.
» Fluent in Spanish and English, speaks a little bit of Finnish and French.
» Was granted the University’s Equality and Diversity Award in 2018.
» Hobbies include bike polo, cycling, reading and skiing during winter.
» Favourite Finnish word is ‘pistorasia’.
» If he could time travel, he would get involved in student organizations in his freshman year.

Julkaistu 29.8.20191.2.2023

Iida Putkonen

Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Tiedeviestinnän maisteri ja glögin ympärivuotinen kuluttaja. Etsii revontulia, riippumattoja ja juuri oikeita sanoja.