TYY-TuKY Consortium

The Student Union of the University of Turku (TYY) and the Student Union of Turku School of Economics (TuKY) will be merging at the beginning of 2010. The student unions merger is a result of their respective universities’ merger on 1 January 2010. The new student union will be called the Student Union of the University of Turku. The project is being handled by TYY-TuKY Consortium Project Secretary Tuomo Liljenbäck.

Student Union Council elections for the first Student Union Council of the new student union will be held 6 and 7 April 2009. Read more about the elections here.

• Frequently asked questions
• Consortium project documents
• Student Union Council elections
• Documents

Current news

At the Student Union Council and Student Parliament meetings in January 2009, TYY and TuKY agreed on the student union consortium and practical matters concerning the merger as well as the budget. According to the Consortium Agreement, TuKY will finance the new student union with €40,000. The Student Union Council and Student Parliament have also approved the new Student Union Regulations and Student Union Council Regulations.

Joint Student Union Council elections will be held on 6 and 7 April 2009 for electing the new student union’s first, 41-member Student Union Council. Every member of the Student Union of the University of Turku and the Student Union of Turku School of Economics, who are registered as attending, has the right to vote and be a candidate in the Student Union Council elections. In addition to ballot voting, online voting will be available. The activities of the newly elected Student Union Council will begin in August 2009 and its term will run until the end of 2011. More information can be found in the Election Proclamation set by the Central Election Committee.

Story on the TYY-TuKY Consortium in Turun Sanomat (in Finnish only)

Background

Merger of the universities

According to the Universities Act, every university must has one student union. So, when UTU and TSE will merge at the beginning of 2010, so will their student unions. Through the consortium, the union of UTU and TSE as one university will be one of the chief projects of the structural development of the higher education institution. Preparations for the project started in 2006 with both of the universities’ proposal to the Ministry of Education. The purpose of structural development is, among others, to ensure the proficiency of the institution of higher education and to internationalise competitiveness. In the beginning, the consortium stage was meant for evaluating the benefits of the merger. However, its schedule was sped up to the follow the timeframe of the Finnish Universities Act reform. The objective of Finnish Universities Act reform is to increase the financial independence of Finnish universities. The universities will become independent juristic bodies (separate from State juristic bodies) and their leadership will be reformed.

Read more about the background of the universities’ merger on the consortium webpages (currently in Finnish only)
Read more about the background of structural development Ministry of Education webpages (currently in Finnish only)
Read more about the Finnish Universities Act reform on the Ministry of Education webpages

Merger of the student unions

Student unions TYY and TuKY began their talks on merging in spring 2007. The talks had been going well in a good spirit of cooperation. Both student unions’ executive board chairs, members for academic affairs, secretary generals and secretaries for academic affairs were present at these discussions. This discussion body was officially made the student unions’ consortium steering committee in May 2008. At this point, the chairs of the TYY Student Union Council and TuKY Student Parliament had joined. (see steering committee line-up) The job of the steering committee is to coordinate the progression of the consortium project and to direct the work of the consortium project secretary. When the steering committee was being established, the main objective was to form a consensus between the student unions for the Student Union Council and Student Parliament to decide on future matters.

In spring and early autumn 2008, an election working group prepared Election Regulations for the first joint Student Union Council elections. The Election Regulations were required so that the Student Union Council and Student Parliament could select a Central Election Committee which would organise the elections. The Student Union Council and Student Parliament approved the Election Regulations at their September meetings and selected the Central Election Committee at their October meetings. According to the Election Regulations, the Chair and five members and five deputy members were selected from TYY and the Vice-Chair and three members and three deputy members were selected from TuKY. (see Central Election Committee line-up). The Election Regulations will be valid only once - that is, they were drawn up for the first joint elections only.

In addition to their own discussions, the TYY Student Union Council and TuKY Student Parliament have been involved with the preparations of the merger though cooperative evening meetings. The Student Union Council and Student Parliament talked about the merger more extensively at the September 2008 evening meeting and deliberated on the various areas of student union activity in work groups. In December, they discussed the draft of the Merger Agreement and the division of finances of the student unions on the basis of a proposal made by the Financial Boards. They went over the proposal of the Consortium Agreement, the new Student Union Regulations and the Student Union Council Rules of Procedure at the evening meeting in January. These documents were approved at the January meetings of the Student Union Council and Student Parliament. The Consortium Agreement was made up to decide on the division on finances and certain practical matters. The new Student Union Regulations and Student Union Council Rules of Procedure are required to organise the Student Union Council elections and start up the operation of the new Student Union’s first Student Union Council.

The Student Union Council elections will be held at the beginning of April. The new Student Union Council will be organised and begin its activities in August 2009. This is because the new Student Union Council must decide on the selection of University Board student representatives for the administrative bodies of the new university. The new university will also be organised during autumn 2009. Furthermore, the Student Union Council must immediately decide on several rules and regulations at the beginning.