Blog
The Student Union’s statement on Bachelor in Business
In the fall of 2024, a very special semester begins at Hanken. The new Bachelor in Business program will welcome up to 80 new students during its first year. The program has raised a lot of concerns. The response to the Bachelor program has been mixed. The obvious concerns and questions should be addressed. Will Hanken continue to protect the Swedish language and its status? What if only national students are admitted to the program? How will we fit into the school? How will the role of the student union change?
Hanken looks to the future and welcomes internationalization just as it is expected of them with the Ministry of Education and Culture’s goal of a triple increase of international students in Finland by 2030. SHS also understands that we have to do our part. SHS wants the members to be aware that the status of the Swedish language continues to be one of the cornerstones of the student union as well as at Hanken. No study places will be taken from the programme in Swedish and one of the most important parts of Hanken’s strategy and mission is to protect the Swedish language, so we at SHS have no reason to worry at this point. In 2024, there will be a distribution of about 80 percent participating in the Swedish-language teaching at bachelor level and the remaining 20 percent in the new English-language bachelor program. Hanken has introduced a quota system for the new program, which in short means that the places are divided 50-50 between international and national admission criterias. In the first year there are 40 places reserved for each. Under the quota system, national students are admitted on the basis of grades, tests or other qualifications and international students on the basis of international tests and qualifications.
The new program will be in Helsinki and will not affect facilities at Hanken in Vaasa. When it comes to facilities and space in the building in Helsinki, it should be noted that the new line will not cause an overall increase in students at Hanken. The Swedish-speaking Bachelor program returns to the maximum number of students that was in place before the pandemic and the total number of bachelor students will thus not increase.
SHS will not change in a noticeable way for its current members. However, we who attend Hanken know that nothing can be good without change. SHS is the most fun student union in Finland and if you would have asked someone who attended Hanken 30 years ago, that sentence would have been just as true for them as it is for us today. Our alumni can give their honor and conscience that SHS has always organized the best parties in the universe and has had the strongest community. Despite this, rarely does anyone say that things were better in the past. SHS members have always kept their eyes on the future. The good life can only get better, and nothing gets better without a little change.
SHS is the most fun student union in Finland and it will remain as such. The Union will stick to its values and traditions. SHS is a safe place that welcomes all Hankeites. We always communicate both in Swedish, which is our official language, and in English, which is the main language of some of our members. Internationalization is something SHS looks fondly upon and something we know is required to compete with other schools and student unions. Additional English-language elements will be introduced into the event activities, in addition to what already exists today. SHS can assure those who are concerned about our cultural heritage that it will not be threatened. International students come here to learn about the Good Life and it is the student union’s job to ensure that all its members can enjoy it.
Questions and concerns can be addressed to the SHS Board for 2023.
Emilia Öfverström
Responsible for Academic Affairs 2023