Language Strategy of the

Student Union of the University of Helsinki Language Strategy of the 2018 2023 Towards a Genuinely International and Trilingual University Community

Table of contents: 1 Introduction 1.1 Current state and background 1.2 Key values 2 The Student Union s internal strategy and objectives 2.1 The Central Office and the Representative Council 2.2 Committees 2.3 Members and organisations 3 The Student Union s interest groups and external influencing objectives 3.1 The University of Helsinki 3.2 UniSport 3.3 The Finnish Student Health Service and Nyyti ry 3.4 The Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region 3.5 The City of Helsinki 3.6 The National Union of University Students in Finland and the Finnish Student Sports Federation 3.7 Svenska Studerandes Intresseförening

1 Introduction The Language Strategy of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki describes the Student Union s set of values in relation to multilingualism, acts as a guideline for realising multilingualism internally in the Student Union and defines the Student Union s language-policyrelated influencing objectives towards external interest groups. The aim of the Language Strategy is to improve the status of the Swedish and English languages as well as international students within the Student Union and in communities close to it. This strategy should be updated at least once every five years, next time in 2023. After the new strategy has entered into force, the Board of the Student Union shall draft an implementation plan, which includes concrete measures for achieving the objectives set in the Language Strategy. The realisation of the Language Strategy and the implementation plan should be evaluated at the end of each year. The evaluation is conducted by the persons in charge of international affairs and bilingualism in the Student Union. In the Language Strategy, trilingualism refers to the Finnish, Swedish and English languages. 1.1 Current state and background In spring 2018, the University of Helsinki had approximately 2,200 Swedish-speaking students, 1,700 international students and 600 exchange students, who together form approximately 14% of the students of the University of Helsinki. The Student Union s languages are Finnish and Swedish, and the language of record is Finnish. The Swedish language has an official status in the Student Union s activities, directly derived from the Universities Act. In addition to the statutory languages, HYY also uses English: HYY is a trilingual student union that communicates, serves and acts in three languages. Internationalisation on the Finnish higher education field and at the University of Helsinki is in a state of flux. In the Strategy Plan of the University of Helsinki 2017 2020, one of the strategic objectives is to turn the University of Helsinki into a creative, international environment for learning and top-level research in order to reach the University s vision for 2025, Global impact in interaction. In addition to this, the Ministry of Education and Culture published its policies to promote internationalisation in Finnish higher education and research 2017 2025, Better Together for a Better World, in 2017. The policies aim at genuinely international higher education communities. There is great pressure for the internationalisation of the University community, and the Student Union of the University of Helsinki must respond to the needs of an internationalising higher education community. In addition to communicating and serving its members trilingually, HYY must ensure that international students, whose number is increasing, are able to become a part of the Student Union and the University community by participating in activities and influencing decision-making in English, too. The University of Helsinki is one of five Finnish universities with Swedish as one of the teaching and degree languages. The University s structural changes and decreasing number of staff have been reflected in issues such as the decline in the quality and availability of Swedish-language services. The Student Union s own communications and services function trilingually, but the Student Union must also cooperate with the University to secure the position of Swedish as a language of instruction and service at the University.

1.2 Key values Internationality and multilingualism are intrinsically valuable to the Student Union. Trilingualism of the Student Union is seen in a positive light, and the necessity of trilingualism for the equal treatment of members is understood in the Student Union. Trilingualism in the Student Union s activities is seen as intrinsically valuable for achieving an international university community. Diverse ideas and practices enrich the Student Union s activities. The language used by a person must not prevent them from acting in the Student Union or identifying with the organisation. Opportunities to operate in different languages enable inclusion. When the Finnish- and Swedish-speaking members find information and services in their native tongue and the international students find the same information in English, the representatives of these groups can act in the Student Union and find their own student union identity. Multilingualism and internationality enable the participation of diverse members and actors in the Student Union. The Student Union considers it important to achieve a genuinely international university community in which members of the community are able to participate in decision-making trilingually. 2 The Student Union s internal strategy and objectives HYY is a trilingual community whose activities are implemented with lively trilingualism. This is visible in everyday life in HYY s administrative bodies and events. Everyone in the Student Union remembers that there are members whose native tongue is Swedish or some other language, too, of whom many do not speak Finnish. The Student Union s actors understand that getting to practice and use several languages is useful. Attitudes towards trilingualism and internationality are positive. In HYY, the diversity of languages is appreciated and everyone knows that they can speak their respective languages and dare to do so. 2.1 The Central Office and the Representative Council Objective: International students are able to actively participate in the Student Union s activities. The realisation of this objective is measured by the number of people who participate in activities within HYY in English. Objective: The Student Union s operating methods create a readiness to communicate trilingually regardless of the native languages of the members of the Board and the employees at the Central Office. Additionally, trilingualism is taken into account proactively in the preparatory work for materials. HYY s Central Office communicates, acts and serves trilingually. All information meant for members or organisations is available trilingually. Members have equal opportunities to act as part of the Student Union regardless of their language. The Student Union's documents, such as the Constitution, strategies and the programme of objectives, should be available in Swedish and English besides the language of record. When requested, the documents are to be given in the requester s own language, if it is one of the Student Union s languages. HYY s external communication on its website and in social media is trilingual when possible, and any possible updates to these are made in all language versions.

Both the Central Office employees and people in positions of trust must seek to ensure that HYY is an actively trilingual student union. HYY recognises that its structure excludes a large number of international students who wish to get into positions of trust or become employees and understands that an entirely Finnish-language work community is not an advantage for efficient, language-policy-related advocacy work. To ensure adequate proficiency in Swedish and English among the employees of the Central Office, HYY takes language proficiency into account in its recruitments. HYY creates structures that promote lively trilingualism in its work community. HYY's staff, the Board and other actors are jointly responsible for language affairs. The members of the Board and specialists in charge of international affairs and bilingualism have a special responsibility for monitoring and developing language affairs. Advocacy work in language issues is the task of the entire Student Union, and the areas of expertise cooperate actively. Through cooperation, HYY also conveys a natural attitude towards the use of Swedish and English towards other organisations and actors. HYY ensures that all its administrative bodies work trilingually so that the language used by a member does not prevent them from participating in the activities. HYY realises trilingualism in continuing operations and communications with the help of its Swedish and English translators. HYY supports the trilingualism of the Representative Council and, if necessary, other bodies, by arranging interpretation services. 2.2 Committees Objective: Committees receive sufficient support from the Central Office in order to act trilingually. All committees communicate trilingually. HYY s committees are an important and central part of the community, and they make lowthreshold participation in HYY s activities possible for members. Committee activities are open to everyone, which makes it important that committees, too, communicate and act trilingually. HYY supports the committees in their trilingual communications with, for instance, a translation service and other resources. International students see committee activities as attractive, and HYY looks into the possibility of a committee that acts mostly in English in order to secure the influencing opportunities of international members. HYY has a bilingualism committee. The Bilingualism Committee should act as a connecting link for bilingual and Swedish-speaking students, chart the functioning of Swedish-language services and teaching, look after students interests in language-policy issues, support the interaction of students and organisations over language boundaries and organise events linked to the aforementioned themes. In addition to this, the Bilingualism Committee cooperates with other committees in, for instance, study and organisation affairs as well as supports other volunteers in bilingualism issues. 2.3 Members and organisations Objective: The University s international and Swedish-speaking students see the Student Union s organisational field and operating in organisations as attractive and as an opportunity for everyone to operate regardless of their language background. HYY offers organisations training and support related to taking different language groups into account.

Information about the Student Union s services for members and organisations, particularly the texts for member and organisational newsletters, are easily available trilingually, on HYY s website, among other places. Emails with a wider audience sent to the Representative Council or the members are trilingual. In addition to communications, HYY s member and organisational services also operate trilingually. An increasing number of international and Swedish-speaking students see HYY s organisational field and acting in HYY s organisations as attractive. Organisations operating under HYY are regularly reminded about the Student Union s trilingualism and encouraged to use parallel languages in their activities. Organisations that operate in different languages in HYY cooperate trilingually. HYY supports its organisations in language issues and encourages organisations to expand their linguistic readiness. HYY additionally organises training for organisations on taking different language groups into account in events and continuous activities and, when possible, offers organisations tools to manage language issues. 3 The Student Union s external strategy and objectives The Student Union looks after its members benefits and rights related to language policy. HYY actively calls attention to language issues in its influencing work towards interest groups. 3.1 The University of Helsinki Objective: The University of Helsinki can be genuinely international only if the international members of its community can influence decision-making. The University of Helsinki commits to delivering the agendas and the minutes of the meetings of its administrative bodies in Swedish and English when requested. HYY's aim is that the University of Helsinki develops internationalisation opportunities on its own campuses by investing in an international learning environment. Additionally, international cooperation with universities is expanded, especially in relation to teacher and student exchange. HYY actively supports the University in issues such as the development of mobility and internationalisation at home. HYY encourages international students to participate in University administration and promotes the possibility of using languages other than Finnish, too, in administration. In administrative bodies such as faculty councils and the University Collegium, the agendas and the minutes of the meetings must be made available in the second national language and English. All other materials of these bodies must be made available trilingually, if possible. Instruction given in a foreign language or Swedish at the University of Helsinki must be of the same quality as teaching in Finnish. Language skills of the teaching staff are taken into account already in the recruitment situations. The staff also have the opportunity to develop and maintain their language skills by participating in language courses and international teacher exchanges. HYY actively works to improve the conditions for Swedish-speaking students to study in their native language and for international students to study in English. HYY ensures that the University of Helsinki remains at least bilingual and has national responsibilities in organising Swedish degree-based education, and thus has an important role as an institution that maintains and develops the language.

There should be an adequate number of Swedish-speaking teaching positions for the realisation of the Language Strategy s objectives regarding the University of Helsinki. An important goal is for Swedish-speaking students to receive study counselling in their native tongue and for international students to receive counselling in English. Exam questions must be available in fluent Swedish when requested. When evaluating the exams, the evaluation must be based on the language in which the questions are written in the exam. Students are also ensured to have the opportunity to respond on lectures and present their own assignments in Finnish, Swedish or English. The right of Finnish- or Swedish-speaking students to write a thesis in their native language must also be secured in other programmes than English-language degree programmes and in the field of languages. The Helsinki University Library must have a sufficient number of set books in Finnish, Swedish and English. The University actively informs new students about their rights in language issues. The University maintains the current possibilities to complete a bilingual degree and charts whether the possibility to complete a bilingual degree could be expanded into other degree programmes, too. Students completing a bilingual degree should continue to receive language support. The University advertises the possibilities to complete bilingual degrees in those programmes in which a bilingual degree is possible. International students should have the opportunity to receive guidance and counselling in English and Swedish-speaking students in their native tongue. It is also important that support services, such as the University's website, the University s online services, online tools and electronic communication channels as well as the library and IT services operate trilingually. The University of Helsinki also produces Finnish-language and Swedish-language science and upholds the status of the Finnish and Swedish languages as languages of science. 3.2 Unisport Objective: All Unisport s services and communications are realised equally in Finnish, Swedish and English. Unisport is owned by the University of Helsinki, Aalto University and Hanken School of Economics. The students and personnel of the universities in question form a significant part of Unisport s customers. For this reason, Unisport should be able to serve its customers trilingually, both in communications and on its premises. 3.3 The Finnish Student Health Service and Nyyti ry Objective: All of the Finnish Student Health Service s (FSHS) and Nyyti ry s services and communications are realised equally in Finnish, Swedish and English. Trilingualism of services is particularly important for the FSHS and Nyyti. Nyyti ry is a national association that promotes mental well-being and students mental health. HYY conducts advocacy work to improve English- and Swedish-language reservations and treatment as well as monitors the realisation of the FSHS s language strategy. The FSHS must offer its personnel the opportunity to develop their language skills. HYY promotes information collection related to international students healthcare and needs, so that the FSHS and Nyyti can develop their services for international students, too.

3.4 The Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region Objective: All services and communications of the Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region Hoas are realised equally in Finnish, Swedish and English. Hoas must be able to serve students in three languages. HYY works to improve Hoas oral Swedish-language service in particular. HYY encourages Hoas to take language skills into account in its recruitments, so that customer service, communications and appropriate development and updating of forms and contracts in Swedish could be guaranteed at Hoas in addition to Finnish and English. 3.5 The City of Helsinki Objective: The City of Helsinki responds to the needs of the internationalising University community and international students. In 2023, English should be a language of service at the City of Helsinki alongside Finnish and Swedish. Besides their student status, students are also residents of the city. International students must receive municipal services in English, and official notices must be published trilingually. The availability of the City of Helsinki s interpretation services must be guaranteed. It is especially important that students can do business in the city in their language of study and that no student is left without municipal services because of language issues. HYY communicates to its international members about their influencing opportunities as active residents of the city. 3.6 The National Union of University Students in Finland and the Finnish Student Sports Federation Objective: Communication in SYL s and OLL s social media and website is entirely trilingual. SYL s and OLL s communication must occur trilingually. Material intended for union meetings, sector meetings and other similar events should be translated into Swedish and English well in advance. Material that requires all student unions to react to it, such as the material for parliamentary election campaigns, must be submitted trilingually well in advance. These objectives are taken into account in the budgets of SYL and OLL, so that the resources for translations are ensured. 3.7 Svenska studerandes intresseförening Objective: SSI has a clear strategy to involve its member communities, to ensure the organisation s continuity and to maximise visibility for the digital Studentbladet magazine, which SSI uses to conduct Swedish-language advocacy work for students. Currently, the primary duty of Svenska studerandes intresseförening (SSI) is to publish the Studentbladet magazine. HYY supports SSI in this activity by, for instance, advertising the magazine to its members. SSI must have a clear plan to ensure Studentsbladet s digital visibility. SSI conducts Swedish-speaking advocacy work through the Studentbladet magazine by, for instance, raising current themes into discussion using the magazine s visibility and wide circulation. HYY encourages SSI to also organise events to deepen cooperation among Swedish-speaking and bilingual student unions, although advocacy work, ensuring continuity and publishing the Studentbladet magazine are priorities. HYY strives to continually have two representatives in

SSI s Board. HYY actively brings forward its own perspectives by participating in SSI s association s meetings and evening sessions.