PHD students

What do PhD students get out of membership?

As a doctoral student you may join the Student Union at Hanken.  The membership fee is EUR 70 for the entire academic year, and EUR 35 for a semester (fall/spring). As a doctoral student, you do not automatically become a member of the Student Union, but are granted membership after a board decision. 

There are two ways to pay the membership fee:

1. Oili. When you register as present for the academic year you can pay the membership fee at the same time in Oili. 

2. Bank transfer. If you did not pay through Oili when registering you can pay the fee to the following account: FI97 5780 3820 1181 48 (The Student Union of Hanken). Please write the following as the message/reference when making the payment: Student Union Fee *Academic year/semester, e.g., 2025-2026 or fall/spring semester 2026* – *Firstname Lastname* doctoral researcher. Send the payment receipt as a PDF to gensek@shs.fi in order for us to process your membership.

The Student Union offers many different events that may also interest doctoral students such as company visits and different theme weeks (e.g. wellness week). You are also free to join all our clubs and committees, examples of these clubs / committees are Hankinvest, Hanken Entrepreneurship Society and the Business Committee. It is also possible to create clubs, why not a ”PHD Club” (a similar club does not yet exist)? As a member, you are entitled to book and use the facilities at the Student Union, free of charge.

Please note that membership of the Student Union and the Frank card for doctoral students does not entitle you to the same discounts and benefits as for master’s students (for example transportation or health care services). As a member of the Student Union you may order the national student card, also called the Frank student card, which entitles the PhD student to discounts at the theatre and other cultural events and can be used as a university library card, membership card for university sports services, and a payment card in certain locations. For the time being, doctoral students are not entitled to the VR and HSL ticket discounts or the Kela subsidized student lunch. However, some student restaurants have a special student discount for doctoral students, which can be obtained with the student card.