News in English

Iina Korkiamäki elected to SYL board

Iina Korkiamäki from TamyÂ’s 2006 board has been elected to the board of The National Union of Students in Finland SYL. Lasse Männistö from The Student Union of Helsinki School of Economics was elected as the chair of the SYL board. Männistö takes the position after TamyÂ’s Ilkka Wennberg.
The new board was elected on 18th November by the yearly SYL Congress in Espoo.
Iina Korkiamäki was nominated in the Congress by both Tamy and the Social Democratic Students, SONK.

Tamy offices closed for the holidays 16.12.-7.1.

The Tamy offices will be closed for the Christmas holidays from 16th December to 7th January. The quick-cash help, van rental, and other office services will be unavailable during the holidays.
The offices will open on Monday 8th January at 9am.

Tamy considers supporting extension for Atalpa

TamyÂ’s Council of Representatives has passed a resolution that obliges the Executive Board to determine whether Tamy could grant a loan to Atalpa Oy for building an extension for the sports hall. The resolution was prepared by Tommi Varuhin (SySi representative group) and Mikael Mäkinen (Eturyhmä representative group).
Senate Properties, the company that owns the building, has promised money for the extension but only after two years time.
Tamy alone will not be able to finance the extension.

Academic unemployment on the rise

A research project that monitored the employment of university graduates has concluded that academic unemployment is increasing. The research project followed the careers of students who graduated from multidisciplinary universities in 2000. A bit less than a third of those who replied to the researchers had been unemployed.
Unemployment was rarest in professionalized fields. Meanwhile, 40 percent of graduates from the Arts, Agriculture and Forestry, or the Humanities had been unemployed.
“We should admit fewer students into universities in the fields that have unemployment and where graduates do work they have too high education for," says Risto Piekka, chair of the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals.

University lecturers vs. polytechnic lecturers:
Wages not proportionate to degrees

Regardless of the new wage system, university lecturers are still paid less in proportion to level of education than their colleagues in polytechnics.
As a rule, polytechnic lecturers are required to have a masterÂ’s degree, whereas, a doctorÂ’s degree is usually required for university lecturers. Despite the difference in degrees both have minimum monthly wages of 2500 euros on average. In the universities a raise requires a more demanding job description or a better evaluation from a superior.

New Tamy Executive Board a coalition

TamyÂ’s Council of Representatives raised the membership fee by two euros for the academic year 2007-2008. The new membership fee will be 79 euros, of which 35 euros go to the Finnish Student Health Service.
The raise is mainly due to staff costs. The Council of Representatives passed a budget resolution for full-year-employment of AviisiÂ’s journalists which will cost 12 000 euros per year. Other new costs come from pay raises for TamyÂ’s employees and employing a new Secretary for Organisational Affairs.
The Council also elected a new Executive Board. The Board is a coalition with Simo Autio, 25, a student of English Philology, as chair.

Exam Aquarium finally opens

The Exam Aquarium is finally going to be opened. The Exam Aquarium offers students a possibility to freely choose their own exam times. The exams are done on a computer and video surveillance prevents cheating.
“The recordings can be accessed later at any time. Both the student and the examiner can use the recordings as evidence for their claims, if there is need for re-evaluation," explains Tamy’s Secretary for Academic Affairs Pasi Rautanen.
The Exam Aquarium is believed to ease correcting the exams, as there will be no more problems with unclear handwriting and mix-ups.

Translations: Aatu Lehtovaara