One Step Ahead (OSA) ry is the first international student association of the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki. The organisation was founded in 2021 by a group of Changing Education master’s programme students and since then has worked to promote diversity, equality, and research-based improvement of education and to create a space for English-speaking students at the Faculty of Educational Sciences.
In its justification for presenting the award, the Equality and Diversity Committee states that the association has taken significant initiatives in matters of equality, particularly in the field of anti-racism. OSA’s commitment to equality efforts at the university is reflected in a number of initiatives, including the following:
- Training workshops related to anti-racism
- An anti-racism workbook for the University community
- Integrating anti-racism into teaching and compulsory courses
- Designing a course in anti-racism education
- A conference dedicated to justice: Worklife utopia
- OSA also hosted the Educathon event, which focused on the equality of studying.
These initiatives represent just some of the outstanding and important work OSA has done for education in such a short time, and we at AGORA are really proud to have OSA at our faculty doing such impactful work.
Congratulations to both award recipients!