You can contact Condus’s Student Advocacy team via email at edunvalvonta@condus.fi.
The easiest way to get involved in advocacy at Siltavuorenpenger is through your own subject organization or Condus’s advocacy team. Contact us to receive an invitation to our next meetings! Come hear about current topics in educational policy, discuss the state of student advocacy in our faculty, and make a concrete impact on how your studies are organized.
What does Condus’s Student Advocacy do?
Condus’s Student Advocacy ensures that the student perspective is taken into account in decisions affecting students’ daily lives, and supports advocacy carried out within member organizations and faculty administration. Our advocacy is built on constructive cooperation with individual students as well as various partners, such as subject organizations, faculty leadership, and the Student Union (HYY).
Condus handles advocacy related to courses mandatory for all students in the faculty (such as mass lectures and methodology courses), conducts student surveys and reports, participates in developing faculty practices, and collaborates with faculty leadership and staff. When necessary, Condus’s Student Advocacy also addresses study-track-specific matters or situations, often in cooperation with the advocacy officers of the relevant subject organizations.
Condus also carries out advocacy by participating in various administrative bodies and working groups as needed, and by organizing the activities of the Siltavuorenpenger Advocacy and Equality Committee.
What does it mean to be a Student Representative (Halloped)?
Student representatives in administration (hallinnon opiskelijaedustajat, or Hallopeds) are representatives appointed by the Student Union to various university bodies and decision-making arenas. In addition to representing themselves, they represent the entire student body. Any student at the University of Helsinki can apply to become a Halloped through an open call, and any student studying at our faculty can apply to serve as a Halloped in the Faculty of Educational Sciences.
Hallopeds are full-fledged members of their respective bodies and directly influence what higher education studies and research will look like in the future. The best way to support them is by giving feedback or contacting them either directly or through your subject organization’s advocacy officer.
Terms of office are usually two years, and positions open up annually because calls for applications for different bodies take place at different times of the year. New student representatives are needed every year!
Examples of administrative bodies at the university and faculty:
University Collegium
Student representatives of the Student Union
Faculty Council
Steering groups
Committees and boards
Preparatory committees
Working groups