Operating environment

Student and youth work

We work in close collaboration with the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences – SAMOK (website in Finnish) and the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), which are the national interest organisations for university students.. We are also a member of Finnish Youth Cooperation – Allianssi (website in Finnish).

We also cooperate with political student and youth organisations and the student and youth divisions of labour market organisations.

Sports organisations

We are a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee (website mostly in Finnish) and we are particularly heavily involved in the Liikkujan polku network (website in Finnish), which is coordinated by the Olympic Committee.

We collaborate closely with organisations and research institutes that promote physical activity. We are a member of the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences (LTS), for example, and we want to actively combine research with our practical work.

Through the Finnish Student Championships (website mostly in Finnish) we also collaborate with various national sport associations.

Student health care

OLL’s closest partner is the Finnish Student Health Service FSHS. The most important themes of our collaboration are promoting health and preventing illness. We have advanced these themes through the national model for mini interventions for exercise.

We also collaborate with Nyyti ry, which is an organisation promoting mental health among students, and the Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention EHYT (website in Finnish).

Education and universities

We particularly emphasise the importance of exercise, wellbeing, and daily physical activity at universities, and we keep in touch with the universities’ rectors’ conferences.

We also collaborate with the Department for Higher Education and Science Policy at the Ministry of Education and Culture. During the past few years, our goals have had a strong focus on increasing daily physical activity at universities – not forgetting the accessible and high-quality university sports services.

Social and health organisations

Organisations in the social and health sector have the same goals as sports organisations. Because of our shared goals, the organisations in the social and health sector are natural partners of the Finnish Student Sports Federation. That is why we are a member of the Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health SOSTE.

Society

We take part in the public debate in order to increase the amount of physical activity among university students. We purposefully aim to increase physical activity among students by influencing the structures and culture which support exercise and everyday physical activity.

We are in close contact with the main government agencies and other organisations in society who have the influence to help us promote OLL’s goals.

Among the ministries, the Ministry of Education and Culture is an important conversation partner for us.

We also collaborate closely with the National Sports Council and the Education and Culture Committee. Among the expert bodies under the Ministry of Education and Culture, the National Sports Council and the Education and Culture Committee are some of the most important players in sports policy.

International relations

We also work to influence the developments in student sports on an international level. We collaborate extensively with the Baltics, the Nordic countries, Europe and the whole world.

Our international work is channelled through the international umbrella organisations for student sports, i.e. EUSA (the European University Sports Association) and FISU (the International University Sports Federation).

Our memberships in EUSA and FISU enable us to have international influence in student sports.

You can find out more about our international activities on the page International activities.