What determines what the Student Union does? On an annual basis, the framework is of course set by the budget and the action plan, in terms of advocacy work, it is determined by the policies approved by the Council and the Board’s vision. However, it is usually the organisation’s strategy that provides the vision of a shared direction – a clear guiding star towards which we are moving. This year, the Student Union’s strategy has been revised on the basis of data, using information gathered from the office, the Council, the student community and our closest partners. We collected this data through, amongst other things, a large-scale member survey and a stakeholder survey, as well as by utilising previous results from associations feedback, event feedback and the 2024 communications development survey.
We (Secretary General Adam and Vice Chair of the Board Rudi) generally despise traditional strategy jargon. We avoid words such as benchmarking, brainstorming and implementation. In our view, these choices of words make strategy work sound like something that takes place behind closed doors, detached from the community and the people. We believe that the roadmap for Tampere’s students should look as though it has been written by a group of Tampere students. That is precisely why we did just that: We put together a strategy committee, in which, with the help of a group of students from outside the TREY office, we were able to work on the student union’s direction without any pre-existing expectations.
In TREY’s new strategy, the “vision” is referred to as a ‘dream’. Bureaucratic jargon has been avoided, and the aim is to put things in simple terms. The whole thing is based on the goal that anyone strolling through the document should immediately grasp what we do here and why. We have tried to articulate our operational objectives and principles honestly and clearly. Key concepts such as community spirit, equality, democracy, responsibility and vitality have been placed at the heart of student life in Tampere. As always, our core motto, “we students”, sums it all up.
The Student Union does important work. It is our job to ensure that students are coping well. It is our job to ensure that students can study. It is our job to ensure that students have the opportunity to make friends, settle in and find employment; in short, the conditions they need to thrive in Tampere. Everyone understands that there is a great deal of work to be done. As part of our strategy, we have selected three projects – three key areas – where we aim to make improvements in the coming years and on which we intend to focus our efforts in. Choices have to be made: if everything is always important, then nothing is important.
Our first priority is the community. The project titled “The Best Time of One’s Life” is a response to young people’s crumbling faith in the future. The Student Union – which, in this context, can refer to all 21,000 students, or those of us working in the office – plays a key role in strengthening the Tampere student community. We want to make the experience of student life a positive one and to convince both the students themselves and the wider society of the significance of their time at university. Even in the most difficult times, a support network of people provides strength. The importance of community should never be underestimated.
As a second focus of our activities, we highlight the unique landscape of student associations in Tampere. The 170 voluntary student associations operating at the University of Tampere form the cradle of Finland’s most vibrant student culture. We believe that student associations can increasingly rely on the services provided by the Student Union, whilst the Student Union, in turn, benefits from effective cooperation with student associations.
In our third and final project, we will focus on advocacy. The Student Union is a very significant organisation in Tampere – we have 21 000 members, which is almost 10 % of Tampere’s population! Given our size, however, we could be an even more influential force in our region. In the coming years, we will therefore focus on improving our regional influence and developing our network of partners.
The strategy work has been one of the highlights of this year. We have worked systematically with the student members of the committee, but always in good spirits. That is why we would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the whole committee and to everyone else who has helped us with this work: Thank you to Aino Närhi, Vili Olkkonen, Olavi Latukka, Teemu Juutilainen, Ilona Taubert, Yeti Ahonen-Kakko and Saana Hytönen.
In the words of our Chief of Finances, Oke Rouhe, speaking in his strong Tampere dialect: “Something needs to be done.” Now the Student Union knows once again exactly what that “something” is.
– Adam and Rudi