Press release 14.11.2016
For immediate release
The two-day General Assembly of the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) will be held in Korpilampi, Espoo on Friday and Saturday 18–19 November. The General Assembly wields the highest decision making power in SYL and elects the president and a board of six for the organisation. The assembly also outlines the objectives and activities of SYL for 2017. This year the meeting will also decide on SYL’s policy paper. The policy paper directs all advocacy work of the union. All 15 student unions will be represented at the General Assembly. All in all, the unions represent around 132,000 university students. The student unions elect 142 full representatives to the General Assembly. Altogether the number of participants will be more than 300.
The meeting will open Friday at 10 in the morning. On Saturday, the meeting will continue at 9 in the morning. Antti Rinne, leader of the Finnish Social Democratic Party will address the meeting at 9:30. Late Saturday will be the highlight of the General Assembly when the results from the elections for president and board are announced around 19–20. We will inform media about the results as soon as we can.
Three persons are running for president: Tarik Ahsanullah (HYY), Tuomas Kuoppala (Tamy) and Riina Lumme (TYY).
There are currently six other candidates for the six posts as board member. The candidates nominated by the student unions are: Jimmy Nylund (AYY), Henna Pursiainen (HYY), Jani Sillanpää (TTYY), Jyri Lähdemaa (TYY) and Veera Alahuhta (OYY). Additionally, the Finnish Centre Students (KOL) and the Social Democratic Students of Finland (SONK) have nominated candidates of their own. The KOL candidate is Juho Ikonen and SONK’s candidate is Maria Loima. Candidates may be nominated until the elections take place during the General Assembly. See links to presentations of the candidates below.
Media is welcome to follow the proceedings on Friday and Saturday.
The preferred time for interviews is during the lunch breaks (Fri 12:30–14, Sat 12–13) and after the closing of the General Assembly. Please contact our Communications Coordinator for more information or scheduling interviews (iiris.niinikoski@syl.fi, tel. +358 41 515 2228).
The General Assembly of SYL will also be streamed live on SYL’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/sylvideot. The stream will cover the plenary discussions. We will also provide continuous updates on the proceedings on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/SYL.FIN) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/SYL_FIN). The hashtags used on social media will be #SYLliittari and #Studentsoffinland.
Contact details:
Secretary General Eero Manninen, tel. +358 45 631 7145
President Heikki Koponen, tel. +358 44 906 5007
During the proceedings, we recommend you contact our Communications Coordinator Iiris Niinikoski, tel. +358 50 389 2228
You reach us by email at firstname.surname@syl.fi
The General Assembly documents can be downloaded online: http://www.syl.fi/materiaalit/liittokokous/ The material also includes a more detailed schedule.
Running for SYL president:
Tariks Ahsanullah, @TarikAhsanullah (Student Union of the University of Helsinki HYY), nomination:
Tuomas Kuoppala, @KuoppalaTuomas (Student Union of the University of Tampere TamY) nomination:
http://www.tamy.fi/node/5816?language=en
Riina Lumme, @riinalumme (Student Union of the University of Turku TYY), nomination:
Running for the board:
Jimmy Nylund, @JimmyNylund (Aalto University Student Union AYY), nomination:
Henna Pursiainen, @hennapursi (Student Union of the University of Helsinki HYY), nomination:
Jani Sillanpää, @sillanpaajani (Student Union of Tampere University of Technology TTYY), nomination:
https://ttyy.fi/en/jani-sillanpaa-on-ttyyn-ehdokas-suomen-ylioppilaskuntien-liiton-hallitukseen/
Jyri Lähdemaa (Student Union of the University of Turku TYY), nomination:
Veera Alahuhta, @veeralahuhta (Student Union of the University of Oulu OYY), nomination (in Finnish):
Juho Ikonen, @JuhIkon (Finnish Centre Students KOL), nomination (in Finnish):
Maria Loima, @MariaLoima (Social Democratic Students in Finland – SONK), nomination (in Finnish): http://bit.ly/2fxDU4L
Venue: Hotel Korpilampi, Espoo, map: http://www.korpilampi.fi/fi/yhteystiedot
