TAMK annual review 2024: Students' union

For TAMK students, 2024 was filled with changes, various activities and advocacy work. Students were at the centre of all activities, including large events, elections and the development of internationality. The efforts of our active student union had an impact on many fronts. The year culminated in a welcome speech by the new president as we looked eagerly on to 2025.

Students’ year filled with twists and turns

From the students’ perspective, 2024 was an eventful year with lots of changes taking place. In January and August, we organised orientation weeks and welcomed an ever-increasing number of new students with the help of our tutors. The first thing we arranged in January was the traditional three-day Gateway to Working Life recruitment event where students get to meet and talk with companies providing employment opportunities. In the autumn, we celebrated the 82nd Tursajaiset event during a bit of a heatwave. We also enjoyed the super popular well-being week in cooperation with the TREY Student Union and numerous other local student associations.

It was a year marked by elections: in the spring, we strived to make an impact in regard to the presidential election and the elections for the European Parliament. Our main goal was to improve voter turnout among students. We started preparations for the 2025 county and municipal elections already in early spring together with the TREY Student Union, culminating in the approval of Tamko’s and TREY’s mutual county and municipal elections programme in the autumn. During the autumn, we also administrated council elections which attracted the most candidates in years, with a lofty total of 60! With the elections, the bilingual operations of both the council and the entire student union will improve even further in the future as international students were elected to both the council and the board for the first time.

Besides improving the bilingualism of its own operations, Tamko also had an active role in developing internationality at TAMK. For instance, Tamko represented students in workgroups promoting TAMK’s internationality. Improvements were also made in other sectors in cooperation with TAMK in 2024: for instance, we improved union facilities, opened a quiet space for students and made an active impact on the curricula implemented in the autumn.

TAMK is known for its wide range of student union activities which continued to flourish in 2024. Our students are active and genuinely want to make an impact on shared issues. This was evident throughout our organisation, as demonstrated by our successful events, student representation and new students interested in taking an active role in the organisation. Indeed, active students and their desire to cooperate with each other as well as with TAMK is one of the driving forces behind TAMK! TAMK students were also appointed for several national posts: the chairperson of the student union, Julia Väänänen, was elected the president of the National Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences, TIRO’s Kasper Laaksonen was elected the chairperson of the Union of Engineering Students, TAMPIO’s Antti Kontio was elected the chairperson of the Forestry Students Association, and TTO’s Aleksi Saarivirta was elected to the board of the Students of Business and Technology.

Late in the year, we had the privilege of welcoming TAMK’s new president, Mika Hannula, and even had the chance to meet him a couple of times before the turn of the year. Students were also represented in the recruitment process of the new president by the chairperson of the student union.

After all the twists and turns of the past year, we are excitedly looking forward to 2025, ready to build an even better TAMK together!