General upper secondary school students to mentor University of Helsinki leadership

Through encounters with general upper secondary school students, the University’s leaders get to familiarise themselves with the students’ worldviews as well as their expectations for the future and their studies. Perspectives gained from the students will help the leadership develop the University’s operations and make it an increasingly attractive place to study.

The programme encompasses 15 leaders, including senior leadership, deans and sector directors. They will be mentored by 23 general upper secondary school students from the Helsingin Yhteislyseo school.

“This is a very important initiative for us. We wish to gain a better understanding of how young people of secondary school and general upper secondary school age perceive their future, and their studies as part of that future. We will be listening and learning from these wonderful young people!” says Director of Communications and Community Relations Taina Kyllönen of the University of Helsinki, who came up with the scheme.

A perfectly ordinary general upper secondary school

Nina Kauria and Anniina Paalanen, guidance counsellors at Helsingin Yhteislyseo, did not have to think twice when the opportunity to collaborate presented itself.

“It’s nice to start this kind of collaboration as a perfectly ordinary local general upper secondary school where young people come to study from the surrounding areas. Our students hail from a range of backgrounds,” Paalanen says.

According to Kauria and Paalanen, some young people do not feel that university is for them when they consider their future. 

“We have a lot of students whose families have not completed any higher education. They may therefore not necessarily have the confidence to go to university, even if they have the resources for it,” Kauria explains.

Self-confidence

According to Kauria and Paalanen, guidance counsellors are tasked with introducing adolescents to their future opportunities.

“For instance, it’s important for general upper secondary schools to welcome visitors who can show young people the higher education institutions that former students have ended up in. Even a single young person getting the spark and finding a suitable field of study makes a difference."

The pair hopes that the mentoring programme will boost young people’s self-confidence. 

“Ambitious young people from a variety of backgrounds applied to the mentoring programme. Some need more confidence to gain the courage to pursue their dreams, while others have clear future prospects. I hope that all of them will have the experience of being heard,” Kauria notes.

Distant memories

Paalanen and Kauria believe that the leaders also have a lot to learn from the young people.

“As an adult, you forget what it’s like to be a teenager. Then again, the lives of today’s adolescents can be quite far from your own memories: among other things, they feel more stressed about their studies. At the same time, they are more open and socially aware than previous generations,” Paalanen lists. 

In the autumn, we will share more about the mentoring programme and the experience it has provided to both the leadership and the young people themselves.