Worth moving for – University sports in the parliamentary elections 2023

What are we campaigning for?

The number of students getting enough exercise has risen. However, more than half (54%) do not get enough physical movement in their everyday lives. This calls for concrete changes in the university environment and study conditions, and financial incentives for universities to ensure exercise facilities.

In order to promote our goals in the parliamentary election, our campaign includes a joint event, an election panel, a podcast series and blog posts. You can take part in our campaign by sharing our posts on social media or why not by arranging a sports event in your town! You are also welcome to contact us and propose a collaboration. The hashtags for the campaign are #worthmovingfor and #universitiesonthemove.

Watch our campaign video on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter!

Sports-friendly candidates in your electoral district can be found at the Finnish Olympic committees website!

Blog series "Worth moving for"

Our blog series Worth moving for explains the background to our goals in the parliamentary election. The series has four parts.

Part 1: Student sports must be taken into account in university funding

Part 2: Higher Education on the Move supports long-lasting and overall well-being

Part 3: We will include students in the promotion of exercise

Part 4: Make exercise a natural part of every student’s day

Election panel hosted by OLL and the Olympic committee March 13

In cooperation with the Olympic Committee, we organized a parliamentary election panel on Monday, March 13, from 2 pm. to 3:30 pm. at the Olympic Stadium. The election panel focused on questions concerning university sports and student sports.

Candidates in the panel

Henrika Backlund (Swedish People's Party, Uusimaa)
Konstantin Kouzmitchev (National Coalition Party, Helsinki)
Karoliina Kähönen (Movement Now, Pirkanmaa)
Ajak Majok (Left Alliance, Helsinki)
Jorma Piisinen (Finns Party, Uusimaa)
Markku Rantahalvari (Social Democratic Party, Helsinki)
Niklas Räsänen (Christian Democrats of Finland, Uusimaa)
Otto Suhonen (Centre Party, Uusimaa)

The one and a half hour long panel can be watched at OLL's YouTube channel with useful timestamps for each question! The panel discussion is in Finnish.

OLL’s podcast goes Worth moving for

Our podcast Opiskelijaliike gets a three-episode election series during our Worth moving for campaign! The episodes consist of interviews with members of the parliament and parliamentary election candidates for the parties elected to parliament. With the interviewees, we discuss e.g. the financing of university sports and investing in the health of university students. The questions are based on our election goals.

In the first episode of the Opiskelijaliike podcast's eletion series we get to hear what Marko Asell (Social Democratic Party of Finland), Kike Elomaa (Finns Party) and Sari Multala (National Coalition Party) think about the situation regarding university sports. How would they increase unviersity students' possibilities for more movement and exercise?

In the second episode Timo Furuholm (Left Alliance), Shawn Huff (Green League) and Hanna Kosonen (Centre Party) talk about how to make exercise more easily a part of everyday life and how to invest in the well-being of university students.

In the final episode we got to interview Silja Borgarsdóttir Sandelin (Swedish People's Party of Finland), Sari Essayah (Christian Democrats of Finland) and Karoliina Kähönen (Movement Now). What do they think about investing in measures to prevent the deterioration of well-being, in order to avoid a crisis in social and health care?

Listen to the podacst also on SoundCloud and Spotify!

The podcast is in Finnish.

Opinion pieces

Student Union of Häme University of Applied Sciences – HAMKO and OLL
Kun opiskelijat eivät enää jaksa: Hamkilaisten liikunnan yhdenvertaisuutta on parannettava ja opiskelijaliikuntaa edistettävä kampuksilla | Hämeen Sanomat 26.3.2023

The Student Union of the University of Jyväskylä and OLL
Yhdenvertaisuutta opiskelijaliikuntaan | Keskisuomalainen 28.3.2023 (only for subscribers)

The Student Union of the University of Vaasa and OLL
Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden liikkuminen on yhtä tärkeää kuin muiden kaupunkilaisten | Ilkka-Pohjalainen 30.3.2023

The Finnish Student Sports Federation
Kor­kea­kou­lu­lii­kun­nan yh­den­ver­tai­suut­ta pa­ran­net­ta­va | Kaleva 30.3.2023 (only for subscribers)

Tulevan hallituksen on parannettava korkeakoululiikunnan yhdenvertaisuutta | Kainuun Sanomat 31.3.2023

Tulevan hallituksen on parannettava korkeakoululiikunnan yhdenvertaisuutta | Keskipohjanmaa 1.4.2023

Tulevan hallituksen on parannettava korkeakoululiikunnan yhdenvertaisuutta | Turun Sanomat 2.4.2023

Kor­kea­kou­lu­lii­kun­nan yh­den­ver­tai­suut­ta pa­ran­net­ta­va | Lapin Kansa 4.4.2023 (only for subscribers)

Hallituksen on parannettava korkeakoululiikunnan yhdenvertaisuutta | Satakunnan kansa 14.4.2023

Campaign stunt Worth moving for February 22

To remind decision-makers of the aforementioned 54 percent, on Wednesday, February 22, we took a break from our study and work day for 54 minutes in order to excercise.

We were happy to see a wide participation all over Finland, both among individuals as well as student unions and different universitie's sport services. Thank you for participating!

Many shared their campaign moments on social media by using the hashtags #liikuttavanarvokas #eduskuntavaalit2023 #riksdagvalet2023 #parliamentary-elections2023.

Worth moving for at Kansalaistori

During the campaign stunt on February 22, OLL and UniSport organised an event at Kansalaistori in Helsinki.

The event started with an excercise session. After the excercise, we got to follow a friendly competition between a team representing university students and a team representing decision-makers.

Contact person

Kristiina Teppo
Communications specialist
kristiina.teppo@oll.fi / +358 46 921 1215

Hero photo: Tyshawn Hall-Johnson/FilmWalk