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Do you want to coordinate and organize one of the most traditional events in Åbo? We are now looking for a coordinator of Shrove Tuesday!
Shrove Tuesday( a.k.a Fastlaskiainen) falls on February 20th 2024. As coordinator, you will have the opportunity to develop the event even further as you will oversee the overall coordination of the event. The assignment demands the ability to cooperate and take initiative, the ability to organize and good stress management skills. The coordinator will receive an fee of 500 euros. The job requires knowledge of Swedish and preferably Finnish.
The application can be sent to evenemang-abo@studentkaren.fi. Deadline for application is on 26 November. The Board of the Student Union will select a suitable candidate on 29 November, and the newly elected coordinator will begin working on the coordination of Shrove Tuesday immediately.
The Student Union Council has decided to make a donation to All Our Children that promotes equality for children and young people, and works on eradicating racism and discrimination.
The Student Union of Åbo Akademi University (ÅAS) has always strived to be an inclusive and safe place for all students, regardless of their background or experiences. This year, when ÅAS’ presidium considered which organisation to donate to, All Our Children was an obvious recommendation. All Our Children is an organisation devoted to promoting equality for children and young people, with a special focus on eradicating racism and discrimination.
– We are determined to not only talk about the fact that everyone is welcome in our organisation, but to also work for it actively. Racism and discrimination have no place in our society, and not in our student union. We cannot stand idly by when we see disturbing news about racism in our government, or anywhere else in society. We must act and try to resolve the situation, says the Chair of the Student Union Council, Ines Latvala.
The Student Union is here for all students, regardless of their background, and ÅAS strives to create a community where everyone can feel included and welcome. Active work in condemning and eradicating racism is not only right, but a necessity. ÅAS stands side by side with organisations such as All Our Children in the fight against racism and discrimination. By donating to their work, the Student Union of ÅAU hopes to be able to contribute to a better and more inclusive future for everyone.
Together, we can make real difference and show that racism has no place in either our operations or in society.
The Student Union of ÅAU (ÅAS) is looking for a new Board for 2024. The Board uses the administrative and executive power of the Student Union, and the new Board will be elected on 5 December 2023 at the Student Union Council’s meeting.
Please note that in order to apply for the ÅAS’ Board, you need to be proficient in Swedish as the Student Union’s official operative language is Swedish. For the time being, ÅAS is unfortunately unable to translate all its operations to English.
You can find more information about applying for the Student Union Board in the news article in Swedish.
Any questions? Contact us
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding the Board’s work or applying for the positions. You can visit us at our offices in Kåren (Åbo) and in Havtornen (Vasa) during the Service Point’s opening hours, or send us an email.
Person responsible for Board elections in Vasa
Lina Sjöberg, sopo-vasa@studentkaren.fi
Person responsible for Board elections in Åbo
Kajsa Viitamäki, sopo-abo@studentkaren.fi
The Student Union of Åbo Akademi University has elected a new Student Union Council for the period 1 January 2024–31 December 2025. 25 elected members of the Council with respective deputy members were chosen.
66 candidates ran in the elections.
1219 votes were cast of which 20 votes were rejected, which gives a voting activity percentage of 23.07 %. 5370 persons were entitled to vote in the elections.
The preliminary election results
Based on the preliminary election results the Council seats will be distributed as follows:
| Gemensamma Vasa | 8 seats |
| FNT-Listan | 8 seats |
| MK-Listan | 3 seats |
| De Rättvisa | 3 seats |
| Rödgröna Listan | 3 seats |
These results are preliminary. The result will be confirmed by the Election Committee’s meeting 9 November 2023.
The Student Union of ÅAU (ÅAS) has ordered a new website from the Tammerfors-located company Aate, and now the website with its new graphic layout has been published.
ÅAS’ wishes about the website were that it should visually reflect the Student Union’s strategy. The site should be welcoming, joyful, and bold, as well as trustworthy and professional – and we really think that Aate nailed it. The structure and accessibility have also been improved during the project, and we hope that you can now find the information you are looking for a little bit easier.
The Student Union’s external communication languages are Swedish and English, and we have also made a big effort in translating webpages into English, so now you can find almost all the pages in both language versions.
We hope that you contact us if you notice any oddities on the website, and we will do our best with Aate to fix any possible issues. Comments and requests can be sent to ÅAS’ Communications Specialist Mari Frelander (kommunikation@studentkaren.fi).
Don’t you know who to vote for? Don’t panic – the election compass is here!
The National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) has published an election compass for all the student unions that will organise student union council elections this year.
With the help of the election compass you can get to know the candidates for ÅAS’ Student Union Council Elections. Answer questions about things that are important for students, and after you answer all the questions, the compass will tell you whose opinions are closest to your own.
ÅAS’ election compass can be found here.
Who would you like to see as a recipient of Brahelyran? Who do you think we should call as an honorary member?
The Student Union of ÅAU celebrates 105 years in 2024. In connection with the festivities, we hand out the customary badges of merit. The highest decoration, Brahelyran, is not awarded every year, but only after careful consideration to people who have made a particularly great contribution to the union. The Student Union may also call honorary members. At the next jubilee we would like to pay special attention to those who receive these honors. We would like everyone to have the opportunity to nominate people who they think deserve them.
According to ÅAS’s regulations for scholarships and awards, 50 members of the Student Union can submit a written proposal to the Presidium, whereafter 21 council members need to finalize and approve the nomination. This applies when proposing an honorary member and/ or Brahelyran.
ÅAS’s current honorary members can be found here.
Recipients of Brahelyran 1994–2019
| Nr. | Namn | År |
| 31 | Johan Nikula | 1994 |
| 32 | Johanna Aminoff-Winberg | 1994 |
| 33 | Elisabet Kurtén | 1994 |
| 34 | Bengt Stenlund | 1999 |
| 35 | Anne Peltonen | 1999 |
| 36 | Gunnar Högnäs | 2004 |
| 37 | Patrik Fellman | 2004 |
| 38 | Lena Backman | 2009 |
| 39 | Markku Suksi | 2009 |
| 40 | Ludvig Forsman | 2012 |
| 41 | Anna Litonius | 2012 |
| 42 | Stefan Wallin | 2014 |
| 43 | Tommy Sandås | 2019 |
| 44 | Monika Antikainen | 2019 |
The honours will be awarded at the Annual Ball
The honours will be awarded at the Student Union’s Annual Ball on 17 February 2024.
As a Student Union member, you can influence the election of honorary members and recipients of Brahelyran in two ways: gather at least 50 of the Student Union’s members and send in your nomination to the Presidium (fo@studentkaren.fi) or send an email to the Secretary General (gs@studentkaren.fi) and the Board will take the nomination into consideration. The Board’s unanimous proposal is sent to the Presidium.
Deadline for nominations is 13 November at noon.
The Student Union Council Election Committee has today, 2 October 2023, confirmed the list of candidates for the election, and raffled the candidate numbers.
The list of candidates can be found below.
The list of candidates
Gemensamma Vasa
2. Emma Soini
3. Noomi Talvio
4. André Martinez
5. Cecilia Stenius
6. Emma Svenlin
7. Lina Sjöberg
8. Christa Borgman
9. Herman Björk
10. Veera Moilanen
11. Oscar Ryynänen
12. Axel Pakarinen
13. Vanessa Björklund
14. André Kjellman
15. Aurora Peurala
16. Angelica Loo
17. Emma Johansson
18. Nea Olli
19. Emma Hagberg
20. Adam Lahtinen
21. Ellinor Calrén
22. Julia Michelsson
De Rättvisa (DRV)
23. Ines Latvala
24. Matilda Nygård
25. Rickard Lindholm
26. Amanda Byskata
27. Nicolina Nordman
28. Carl Englund
Rödgröna Listan
29. Niklas Vaulanen
30. Kajsa Viitamäki
31. Matti Oskari Saarinen
32. Jonatan Wikström
33. Kasper Björkqvist
34. Naava Lahtonen
35. Emma Andersson
36. Marius Baumann
37. Lotta Keskinen
38. Niko Sandberg
MK-listan (MKL)
39. Marcus Kopra
40. Elli Männikkö
41. Teddy Backman
42. Carolina Ahlbom
43. Martina Aspelin
44. Ida Granholm
45. Alexandra Joukanen
46. Sofie Hasselblatt
47. Thomas Sjöberg
48. Albert Kivikangas
49. Viktoria Björn
50. Kasper Karhela
51. Valentin Vainio
52. Emilia Nordenswan
53. Markus Huurinainen
54. Erik Airola
55. Greta Mäkelä
FNT-listan
56. Mattias Eriksson
57. Kristoffer Lindholm
58. Ilkka Saari
59. Kevin Hede
60. Viggo Henelius
61. Casimir Ruohomaa
62. Jens Sabel
63. William Törnqvist
64. Jenny Ek
65. Matias Oksa
66. Erik Malmström
67. Sini Toivola
The Student Union has been publishing the Valpurgis magazine Errores every year since 1933. For 90 years the magazine has been sold, or handed out, almost every 30 April. The archive of magazines at Kåren is large, but mainly analogue.
Thanks to financing from the alumni association the Student Union is able to have someone work with the digitalization of the magazine during the summer. The hopes are not only that the archive will be safer with digitalization, but that the previous editions might be able to be published on the web for everyone to read and enjoy.
Please note that all Errores editions are only available in Swedish.
The Student Union’s membership survey is back!
It is time for all members to give their opinions on our advocacy work, events, and communication. The information the survey will be formatted into a report that will be used to develop and improve the organisation. We will raffle 20 gift cards to Wolt, worth 15 €, amongst those who leave their email address at the end of the survey. Filling in the survey is completely anonymous, even if you participate in the raffle. Here is the link to the survey, the deadline to fill it in is on Monday 23 October.