Advocacy
Select an International Affairs Officer to the board of your association, who is
responsible for maintaining an international perspective in the association operations.
You can also create an International Committee to assist them. They should not have to
do everything themselves, but their task is to make sure that others take international
perspectives and international students into consideration in their activities.
New students
You can take the board of your association to meet the new international students in the
beginning of the academic year, for example during the Orientation Week.
If your association receives new students, make sure that there is a person responsible
for international students as well as tutors for them. The person responsible may be the
International Affairs Officer or a person responsible for other new students.
Events
Make a review on your events: what kinds of events does your association usually
organise, and do they reach international students? How could these activities be
developed in a manner that would take all students into consideration?
Make an excursion with your active members to an event organised by the university,
the Student Union or another student association, for example language cafes or an
exchange fair, with a lot of international students attending.
Communication
Translate the main points in all communication into English and remember to include
“In English below” in the beginning of the text, so that the English information is not
lost. If the issue really only concerns Finnish-speakers, it is good to take international
students into consideration by saying, for example, that “This only concerns Finnish
students”.
Pay attention to explaining the terminology. For example, not many people know what
“sitsit” is, but “an academic dinner party with singing” already says a lot about the event.