At its 3rd anniversary party on 2 Feb 2012, Aalto University Student Union (AYY) awarded the learning promotion deed of the year 2012. The award was granted to ”Paremman oppimisen puolesta! (POP)” project of Aalto University School of Science. The purpose of POP project is to create a community and culture around learning. Another aspect which makes POP an excellent project is that it involves both students and the staff. Along with POP, Learning Hub Greenhouse was established in Building T and the basics of optimisation course was developed, among other things. AYY also awarded a grant of EUR 300 for the further development and spreading of the project among the academic community of Aalto University. AYY wishes the dozens of POP members enthusiasm and success in the continuation of the project that began well.

AYY annually awards the learning promotion deed of the year. The award is intended to make visible and to support concrete deeds and projects that have been done at Aalto University for the promotion of learning. This year, the learning promotion deed was the first of its kind. The new prize replaces the teacher of the year award.

Next time, the learning promotion deed will be awarded at AYY’s fourth anniversary party in February 2014. AYY encourages Aalto members from students to professors and janitors to improve learning and learning conditions at Aalto University.

Further information: Board Member Perttu Karjalainen, education policy (firstname.surname@ayy.fi)

The public discussion about prolonging the working careers and finding pensions solutions has not gone unnoticed by the Finnish students. The labour market organisations have until 13 February to leave their proposition on how to prolong the working careers to Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen. The National Union of University Student in Finland

(SYL) demands urgent and responsible decisions with immediate effects.

“All generations share the common challenge of the sustainability gap.

It all comes down to deciding what kind of future the post-war baby boomers wish for themselves, and what kind of a society they want to leave behind for future generations. The post-war baby boomers are the biggest and also most influential part of the population. For them to abandon their children and grandchildren in a situation like this would be very short-sighted. Justice between generations is not an unreasonable request,” says Marina Lampinen, President of the National Union of University Students in Finland.

Decisions regarding pension policy carry a significant role when it comes to prolonging the careers and closing the sustainability gap, which is why all options need to be taken into account. The most efficient way to lift the average retirement age and prolong the working careers is to improve the quality of working life, which then affects the entire span of the career. Lifting the retirement age could on the other hand help solve the challenges brought along by the weakening dependency ratio.

”We need to prolong the careers at both the beginning and at the end of working life. While lifting the retirement age alone would be no miracle solution, it is true that the official retirement age has a significant impact on the amount of time spent in working life”, says SYL Executive Board Member Joel Kuuva.  He also points out that ”after the initial lifting of the retirement age, a system synchronized with the expected life span would erase the constant need for new and trying political decisions.”

We also need to revise the employment pension contributions. The Finnish Centre for Pensions (ETK) has calculated that following 2012, all employment pension contributions should be raised to a level of

25.9 per cent. Not increasing the level of the contributions would result in increased stress on the younger and smaller generation. SYL now demands that the level of the employment pension contributions is raised to the level calculated by ETK. An adequate level would secure visible future employment pension expenditures and strengthen the financing of the earnings-related pension provision. The labour market organisations should immediately begin the negotiations for raising the contributions.

“It is the social responsibility of the labour market organisations to secure just treatment between generations. Regrettably, the current situation shows that the younger generations are overpowered by the post-war baby boomers. However, the situation is not beyond repair.

Still, there is no more time to wait or hesitate,” says SYL President Marina Lampinen.

Helsinki 6 February 2013

• Marina Lampinen, President
• Matti Parpala, Secretary General

More information:

• President Marina Lampinen, tel. 044 906 5007, marina.lampinen@syl.fi
• Executive Board Member Joel Kuuva, tel. 044 906 5002, joel.kuuva@syl.fi
• www.syl.fi/en
• www.twitter.com/SYL_FIN
• www.facebook.com/SYL.FIN

The National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), Lapinrinne 2, 00180 Helsinki