Our social mission
- The institute is a private adult education college covered by the Liberal Educational Work Act, whose operations are supervised by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
- As a civic college, our goal is to be a responsible, sustainable and influential actor in society. The Law on Freedom Act 632/1998 on Educational Work defines the requirements related to these as follows: The aim of education is to promote the comprehensive development and well-being of people, as well as the realization of democracy, pluralism, sustainable development, multiculturalism and internationalism. Independent learning, community spirit and participation are emphasized in free educational work. Citizens' colleges are educational institutions based on local and regional educational needs, which offer opportunities for independent learning and the development of civic competences.
- The owner and administrator of the college is the Finnish Association of White-collar Employees' Associations, formed by trade unions.
Our mission statement
The institute operates as a learning community open to all, where everyone can advance their learning, spiritual growth, and goals.
- Customer orientation is about taking customer needs into account and being learner-centered.
- Collaboration is about respecting people, open interaction with stakeholders, and working together.
- Pluralism is the observation, experience and analysis of different views on life, ways of acting and realities, as well as the understanding of diversity.
- Internationalism is about examining the global and multicultural environment based on our own national cultural heritage.
- Goal-orientedness is striving for set learning goals using both traditional and innovative methods.
- Equality and non-discrimination at the college arise from the fact that we encounter everyone as an equal person, regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnic or political background, language, worldview, religion, health status or sexual orientation.
Benefits and positive achievements of civic college activities
- Through our community college activities, we generate well-being and expertise for our students and savings for the municipality. This is evident from a study commissioned by the Municipal Development Foundation (KAKS) in 2019, Jyri Manninen et al: “Well-being and social capital – the benefits of community college for participants, the city and the region”. According to the study, the benefits of community college can be sorted according to the capital they produce as follows: social, identity, competence and health capital.
- We offer courses that promote well-being and health for everyone, regardless of age or starting skills. We also offer senior courses and adult-child courses.
- We promote physical activity and culture by offering the use of physical activity and culture benefits as payment methods.
- We grant discounts annually through student voucher financing at our discretion.
- We offer courses that enable the maintenance and development of professional skills and promote improved employment or job change opportunities by offering, for example, open university studies.
- We implement open university education in collaboration with the Universities of Helsinki, Eastern Finland, Jyväskylä, Turku and Vaasa.
Promoting culture
- We promote cultural diversity by organizing voluntary integration training and literacy training in cooperation with the TE Office. We are committed to doing good work to integrate global refugees and individuals who have ended up in immigration into our society.
- We promote the understanding of different art forms and cultural diversity through courses in languages, music, visual arts, crafts, writing, theater, and dance.
Projects and projects
- We implement several projects each year, such as promoting the education and digital skills of adult immigrants who are illiterate.
Employment
- We employ approximately 200 hourly teachers annually.
- We offer apprenticeship opportunities and organize work trials for applicants from Verve and Mehiläinen, among others.
- We offer evening security guard jobs for students and retirees, as well as summer jobs for young people.
Support
- Through the sponsorship program, we support education-related projects with small amounts of money.
- The sports facilities on Annankatu are cleaned by the Aula workhouse.
Partners and stakeholders
- We are a member of the advocacy organization KoLi, the Association of Community Colleges, which develops and strengthens the position of community colleges and liberal education in the Finnish adult education system.
- The college's maintenance association is a member of the private education sector employer organization, the Finnish Education Employers Association.
- We cooperate with the community college sector and private community colleges in Helsinki.
- We cooperate with the Uusimaa Ely Centre, the Uusimaa TE Office and municipal experiments in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
- We collaborate with the Helsinki Centre of Excellence (Oske), which places literacy students in the literacy phase of basic education for adult immigrants and in literacy training for liberal arts education.
- We belong to the Töölö Association to promote the development and amenity of the local area.
- We are a Discrimination-Free Area in accordance with the campaign of the Ministry of the Interior.
- We have signed the diversity commitment of the national corporate responsibility network FIBS.