Prior to his current post as the secretary-general of the Finnish National Union of University Students, Juha Töyrylä has worked for many years in international affairs both in SYL  and in HYY.

Töyrylä’s rite of passage in international affairs back in 2009 was partly a matter of chance and partly a push by the Helsinki Student Union board negotiations. But with his position of responsibility came an interest in European educational policy, and from then on international affairs have been more or less everyday fare in Töyrylä’s work.

– I got to understand just how much international European political discussion, research and to some extent decision-making affects the Finnish education system.

International affairs can easily be seen as just a label, but Juha Töyrylä views them more as an opportunity for diversity of thought.

– International activity widens your perspectives and helps to understand other cultures, people and systems. Lately, in addition to running back and forth between the offices of HYY and SYL, I have had time to attend many European student unions’ seminars, meetings and other discussion forums.

According to Töyrylä, different kinds of encounters are excellent places to enrich your own way of thinking, but at the same time take a little something from Finnish student culture and the education system outside the university world. Through his work, he has got to know the President of the European Commission, some MEPs and various committees.

Töyrylä has not done a student exchange himself, as his life circumstances have yet to make that possible. But he has had his fair share of internationalism in various ways through his studies and work.

– For a variety of reasons, not all students are in a position to go on an academic exchange. One way to enhance the international credentials of Finnish students is to get more exchange students from other countries in Finland both as degree students and as exchange students.

Juha Töyrylä is concerned about the current discussion about tuition fees of students coming from outside the EU and ETA countries. In addition to the economic situation, he pays special attention to the possible effects of tuition fees on the nurturing of human capital. Töyrylä is afraid that tuition fees will either prevent or weaken students’ opportunities to create cultural bonds and exchange ideas.

– And this bears a close relation to the importance of humanism and how we understand the influences of other cultures, Töyrylä explains.