What is advocacy, and what exactly do METKA’s advocacy people do? Major changes happen slowly, and individual cases are handled confidentially. That’s why advocacy tends to be pretty invisible unless you need it yourself. Behind the scenes, however, things are happening almost year-round!
Advocacy is a statutory duty of student unions. We ensure that students’ voices are heard and that their rights are upheld. Our advocacy work consists of three main tasks:
1. Advocacy contacts
Advocacy contacts, or “cases” as we call them, involve assisting individual students or sometimes entire groups with challenges related to their studies. The most common issues for which students contact METKA include e.g. delayed grades.
We handle cases according to the students’ wishes. Sometimes sharing tips and directing them to the right person is enough; other times, we handle communication with e.g. the course teacher while the student remains anonymous. Often, cases can be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties, but sometimes there’s not much we can do if guidelines have not been neglected, but rather the issue involves e.g. a teacher’s pedagogical solution that does not suit everyone.
Over the pevious year, we handled a total of 104 cases, and so far this year we have received 31 contacts. Since our case handling is based on confidentiality, we cannot disclose details of individual cases.
2. Stakeholders and Influcencing
In addition to handling cases, we do a lot of behind-the-scenes work in working groups through influencing, monitoring student politics, and elections. METKA is involved in many internal Metropolia groups, but also in regional and national groups to amplify the students’ voice. For example, Metropolia’s OTY groups discuss ways to improve student well-being, while the FSHS Uusimaa cooperation network promotes student health care services.
The advocacy team also meets regularly with the heads of school, campus coordinators, and the director of lifelong learning. During these meetings, we discuss current issues in the study fields and bring up challenges that have come to METKA’s attention.
From time to time, we also write opinion papers and statements. Opinion papers are typically related to proposed changes in laws, regulations, or rules, and statements are directed to matters requiring special attention at the time. Most recently, we wrote a statement together with student associations to support Metropolia’s libraries.
3. Student Representatives
The appointment of student representatives is a clear responsibility of the student union, as defined in Section 41 of the Universities of Applied Sciences Act. METKA appoints student representatives e.g. to the Board of Metropolia Ltd, to degrees’ advisory councils, and to committees that decide on matters such as grade adjustments. In addition to appointments, METKA coordinates activities by training new student representatives to their duties, maintaining application forms, and mapping currently open positions.
In 2026, the student rights in METKA are taken care of by Sara, Eino, and Mari. Is there anything else you’d like to ask about advocacy work? Or is there an issue you’ve encountered in your studies that’s on your mind, and you’re not quite sure how to proceed? Feel free to reach out to us at advocacy@metkaweb.fi. And even if you don’t want the matter to be handled further, we’d love to hear about students’ experiences. We can use this information to support our own advocacy work!
Check out these pages as well:
- Advocacy
- Anti-harassment contact persons
- Students’ Rights in Metropolia
- Wellbeing in Metropolia
- Student Representatives
- Giving Feedback in Metropolia
This post is also available in .