Student Village West

In Joukkila, the new year begins as early as October. A new Residents’ Committee has been elected by the residents’ meeting of the Student Village West (Ylioppilaskylä Länsi) and is now taking office for the coming year.

Here is some information about our committee and our activities:

The Residents’ Committee for 2026–2027 consists of eight people, including a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, a treasurer, and five other members. The residents’ meeting has authorized the committee to add new members during its meetings throughout the term, so the composition may change over the coming year.

… Could you be the newest member of the Residents’ Committee? …

Currently, all the committee members happen to have prior experience in organizational work—some quite a lot. However, you do not need any prior experience to join us; we will be happy to help you get started.

The new committee members represent a diverse range of academic fields from both the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. We include three natural scientists, three humanities scholars, and two theologians. Two of us are working on doctoral dissertations, two on master’s theses, and four on bachelor’s theses. Several of us also hold previous university or university of applied sciences (AMK) degrees, earned in Turku as well as in cities such as Joensuu, Jyväskylä, and Seinäjoki. These include, for example: …degrees in business and engineering.

We also possess a diverse range of professional experience, spanning numerous sectors and roles over many years. This includes backgrounds in universities and educational institutions, national defense and security, the biotech, brewing, and forest industries, interpreting and translation, the hospitality sector (restaurants and bars), as well as various roles within the third sector (non-profit/civil society organizations).

Furthermore, many of us have spent years in positions of responsibility—serving on the boards of subject-specific student associations and student unions, as well as within the decision-making bodies of various other societal organizations and institutions. Many of us have also been active for years in various clubs and student nations (osakunnat). Currently, one of our members serves on the board of TYS (Turku Student Village Foundation).

We are, therefore, well-prepared to face the coming year, whatever it may bring. We begin our term during a challenging period, as our common room will be undergoing renovations throughout the first month of our tenure.

Nevertheless, we have set a firm goal to further develop resident activities during the upcoming term. The previous committee got this work off to a great start, providing us with a solid foundation to build upon.

We intend to continue organizing at least one “hangout” almost every week. As things stand, the schedule will likely remain as usual: Tuesdays from 6:00 PM onwards, held at the common room (“Kerhis”)—once the renovations are complete. Board games will almost certainly remain the main focus of these hangouts, but other activities are also welcome and encouraged, provided they stay within reasonable limits.

Likewise, we aim to keep the regular sauna sessions—including the provision of drinks during the Sunday session—just as they have been. We are also open to adding more sauna slots if the residents would like that.

We are keeping the door open for the film club to continue; we will provide full support for its organization if a new person steps up to lead it.

… Could you be the next leader of the film club? …

We aim to host larger events 1–2 times a month. These will include, at the very least, the epic grand reopening festival for the renovated common room, our traditional pre-Christmas party, New Year’s celebrations, Easter parties, Halloween events, evenings for new residents, and “Back-to-School” parties—plus the long-awaited return of our LAN parties.

We also hope to bring back events from last year, such as our May Day (“Vappu”) festivities, Midsummer celebrations, and crayfish parties, alongside many other exciting new events.
We welcome your suggestions! In fact, all of our events are organized based on the wishes of the residents. We also keep our primary mission in mind: advocating for the interests of our residents. We will continue to actively represent our resident community on all fronts—both locally and nationally—including through our participation in the representative bodies of TYS and SOANK.

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So, if you need advocacy regarding student housing matters, please get in touch with us!
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We also aim to raise general awareness about the Resident Committee’s activities across all relevant areas, and to explore opportunities for collaboration with other stakeholders within the Turku student community. If you have any questions about resident activities, or if you represent an organization interested in collaborating with us, please don’t hesitate to reach out! In particular, we are working to improve our communication across our various channels—most notably here on our official website.

With that, we would like to extend a huge thank you to the wonderful resident community of Ylioppilaskylä Länsi for the trust you have placed in us! We promise to do our absolute best to represent you all, in line with the mandate you have given us through your votes.

See you in events at Kerhis and in saunas!

With kindest regards
The New Tenants Committee

We are very pleased to announce that the 2026 residents’ meeting for the Western Student Village has successfully elected a new Residents’ Committee for the upcoming one-year term, 2026–2027.

Another fantastic year here at Joukkila has flown by in the blink of an eye—and what a year it has been!

During the 2025–2026 season, the Residents’ Committee organized nearly 30 events at “Kerhis” (the clubhouse), including:

• Social gatherings for new residents
• Celebrations for various special occasions, such as Vappu (May Day) and Midsummer
• Movie nights featuring a wide range of genres
• Screenings of various sporting events
• A diverse array of food-related events

And, of course, the ever-popular—and truly legendary—Kerhis Christmas and New Year’s parties!

On top of this, the committee hosted nearly 150 “hangouts” and sauna sessions (complete with refreshments).

Both the hangouts and the regular sauna sessions saw an average attendance of just over 10 people per event throughout the season.

Larger events typically drew between 40 and 100 attendees each. We even broke attendance records during Vappu and the autumn “Back-to-School” party, with well over 100 people showing up!

The Ylioppilaskylä Länsi (Student Village West) Residents’ Committee would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who attended our events!

The year was also packed with plenty of excitement and high-octane moments. For instance, our committee’s beloved chairperson—a long-time, active participant in resident affairs—had to move away unexpectedly in the middle of the term. This created a real risk that we wouldn’t be able to hold committee meetings—and, consequently, organize events—on schedule. Losing our great leader was, in itself, quite a cultural shock that took some getting used to.

At the very last minute, the committee’s new vice-chair—who had moved to Joukkila only a couple of months earlier—stepped in to take over the chairperson’s duties.

Our common room, “Kerhis,” has also taken a beating at the hands of careless individuals—both those who booked the space and those who partied a bit too boisterously. The committee has had quite a task on its hands cleaning up Kerhis and dealing with the messes left behind. A huge, heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers who helped out; we couldn’t have managed without you!

We truly hope that, in the coming term, those who use Kerhis will be a bit more considerate…

We have managed to overcome all of this, and, looking back, we can reflect with joy and gratitude on all the good work accomplished through the committee over the past year (2025–2026). As a final act before the major renovation begins, we will raise a glass of sima (mead) to the past year one last time—on October 31, 2026, at the Halloween bash in Kerhis.

See you there! Autumn in Turku is well underway, and with the arrival of October, it is once again time—in keeping with our tradition—to pass the torch to the new Residents’ Committee elected at the residents’ meeting.

The Residents’ Committee for the 2025–2026 term signs off.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the autumn!

Best regards,
Ylioppilaskylä Länsi (Student Village West) Residents’ Committee

A message from the Residents’ Committee!

Our beloved common room, Kerhis (2.0), has served us faithfully for nearly a decade—ever since the old Kerhis (1.0) was demolished in 2018.

The current Kerhis premises have been in use for over half a century, dating back to the early 1970s. The space was last renovated about three decades ago, in the 1990s.

Now, in honor of TYS’s 60th anniversary, good old Kerhis is getting a long-awaited facelift, so… GET READY FOR KERHIS 3.0!!!

All of this requires a bit (okay, a huge amount) of practical coordination. TYS has currently scheduled the renovation to begin on November 2, 2026, and last throughout the entire month of November. This means the common room will be unavailable for use during November.

Preparations for the renovation will begin as early as October, so you might experience some inconveniences affecting comfort while using the room during that month.

All events in October will take place as planned unless otherwise announced. Unfortunately, however, we have had to cancel all events scheduled for November. Sorry about that, but hopefully, it will all be worth it, because…

It all culminates in the EPIC KERHIS REOPENING CEREMONY taking place in December! Further details regarding the reopening will be announced once TYS confirms the exact completion date of the renovation. But you can already start looking forward to it with mouth-watering anticipation! A party like this happens only a few times a century!

Best regards,
Student Village West Residents’ Committee