News in English

90 percent of women in Journalism say there is a glass ceiling
Only half of the men and fifth of the women working at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication think that equality works well at the department. Women are in short-term jobs at the department more often than men. Only 10 percent of the women and 55 percent of the men in the department´s staff agree that men and women have equal opportunities for career advancement.
These figures are from the equality survey “Ei mikään katastrofi kuitenkaan" (“Not really a catastrophe") done by researcher Minna Nikunen.
“The problems at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication are similar to the problems of the whole university system but they are emphasized by the department´s predominantly male teaching staff," Nikunen says.
All eight of the department´s professors are men.
“When the power structure is unequal, it´s reflected in how the department works. Women are left out of the decision making process," Nikunen continues.
Seventy percent of the department´s students and half of the researchers are women but most of the teachers are men. The administrative and office staff is predominantly female.
“It surprised me that men lunch with men and women with women," Nikunen says.
The survey cites individual cases of sexual harassment. The most common forms of harassment were categorising grown women as girls and staring at women´s breasts.
Another survey done three years ago by Jarna Pasanen revealed that 17 percent of the women and 11 percent of the men working at the University of Tampere had been sexually harassed in the past five years.
Students had been harassed mostly during their first and last years.
The Journalism and Mass Communication survey was the first departmental equality survey done at the University of Tampere. Before, Nikunen has done a university level survey on equality.
“Women´s salaries at the university are about 70 percent of men´s salaries because most of the office staff is female and men have a lot of the high positions," Nikunen says.
At University, career advancement is very important.
“If researchers can´t advance on their careers, they will soon be without jobs because their contracts are short-term," Nikunen explains.

Tamy seeks a new Secretary General
The University of Tampere Student Union is looking for a new Secretary General on a tight schedule.
The current Secretary General Mikko Aaltonen was chosen as the new Financial Manager for the Tampere YTHS Health Center and he has asked for resignation by end of April. The current Secretary´s employment would have continued until end of May but Tamy´s Executive Board has decided to propose that the Council of Representatives would accept his resignation. In May, Aaltonen would have acted as Secretary General for three years.
Simo Autio, Chair of Tamy´s Executive Board, estimates that they will have a new Secretary General around mid-April.
The Secretary General´s duties include acting as a superior for Tamy´s staff and as secretary for the Executive Board, Council of Representatives, and the Financial Section.

Tamy seeks students to influence how UTA works
Tamy seeks student actives who want influence how the University of Tampere works. In April, student members are chosen for Faculty and Department Councils and other administrative bodies at the university. In Faculty and Department Councils, one third of the members are professors, one third other staff, and one third students. Every member has one vote, so students have genuine influence in the Councils. The Councils decide on hiring new staff and curriculum contents, for example.
The student seats to be filled now are the ones for the period 1.8.2007-31.7.2008 and all the two and three-year seats. The applicants must be students at the University of Tampere. They can not be employed at the university.
More information,in Finnish, can be found at www.tamy.fi.

Number of exchange students at UTA increases
Last year, 409 international students arrived at the University of Tampere. That is more than ever before. About one fifth of last year´s exchange students were from Germany. Poland, France, and Spain each were source countries for about 10 percent of the university´s exchange students.
The number of students who left for exchange also increased. The university sent out 391 students. Almost a third of them were major subject students at the School of Modern Languages and Translation Studies. Two other major exchange student senders were the Department of Management Studies and the Department of Political Science and International Relations. These three Departments also received most international students. The most popular target countries for Finnish exchange students were France, Germany, Spain and Britain.

Aceh peace process discussed at UTA
On Wednesday 21st April the Aceh peace process is discussed at the University of Tampere. The discussion will focus on the role of NGOs in peace building.
Speeches on the Aceh peace process will be given by Mr. Wiratmadinata from an Acehian NGO, Senior Adviser Sami Lahdensuo from Martti Ahtisaari´s crisis management organisation Crisis Management Initiative, and Professor Eero Palmujoki.
The discussion will be held in the Main Building lecture room A3 at 16.00-17.30. It is organized by Crisis Management Initiative, Tamy, and the Department of Political Science and International Relations. The discussion will be in Finnish and English.

Translations: Aatu Lehtovaara