Uppsala Student Union to celebrate its 175th anniversary

“It feels great! You get a real sense of history being alive. It feels good to be building on everything that Uppsala Student Union stands for. This is where modern student influence took shape and I feel tremendously proud to be part of it. It’s never stopped since they hammered on the University Board’s door.”

The hammering on the University Board’s door is a reference to an event that occurred in 1968, when students demanded the right to take part in the University Board’s meetings. On Monday 2 December 1968, the students hammered symbolically on the meeting room door. Nine months later, on 6 September 1969, new rules for the composition of the University Board had been implemented, extending representation to both students and technical and administrative staff.

During the interview, Anton Sánchez Sulejmani often underlines the cooperation between Uppsala Student Union and Uppsala University. He uses the expressions ‘in dialogue with’ or ‘together with’ and often says ‘we’, referring to both Uppsala Student Union and Uppsala University.

“Uppsala Student Union has a strong voice in dialogue with and together with Uppsala University. We work with one another to develop the quality of our education.”

International perspectives

Anton Sánchez Sulejmani tells the story of how colleagues from students’ unions in other countries react when they hear that he has regular meetings with the Vice-Chancellor and attends the Vice-Chancellor’s decision-making meetings, for example.

“We have a different model of higher education in Sweden in which we students have equality and an unquestioned role in shaping our education. When I meet students’ union representatives from many other countries, they just stare and say things like, ‘You meet the Vice-Chancellor? We never get to do that.’”

Anonymous exams and remuneration

Anton Sánchez Sulejmani singles out two reforms from recent years as important issues that Uppsala Student Union has pursued and achieved acceptance for from Uppsala University: remuneration of student representatives and anonymous exams.

“Anonymous exams are an important factor in fair assessment and we campaigned for this issue for a long time.”

With regard to remuneration of student representatives, the Vice-Chancellor’s decision applying to bodies under the Vice-Chancellor have more or less set the standard throughout the University.

Important issues moving forward

These were a couple of the issues Uppsala Student Union has tackled in recent years. Right now, the union is focusing instead on a major project to highlight the importance of work on teaching and learning, together with student demands for good teaching.

“We want education to be taken just as seriously as research. Students at – in my opinion – Sweden’s best university, with world-leading research, have a right to the best teaching in Sweden.”

Uppsala Student Union will also address opportunities for students to benefit more from the University’s breadth.

“We want to increase opportunities for students to move between different subjects. It’s not uncommon for there to be an employment market to explore in the field between different subject areas.

“The students are interested in these opportunities. If the barriers are lowered and it becomes possible for students to study across disciplinary boundaries, they will explore this.”

Anders Berndt