SAMOK ja Suomen ylioppilaskuntien liitto (SYL) ry osoittavat mieltään maksuttoman koulutuksen puolesta 21.4.2010. Liitot ovat saaneet useita tukikirjeitä kamppailuunsa lukukausimaksuja vastaan eri opiskelijajärjestöiltä ympäri Eurooppaa. Tukensa ovat osoittaneet muun muassa: SFS (Ruotsi) DSF (Tanska) FEF (Belgia) SOLG (Georgia) NUS-SCOTLAND (Skotlanti) VVS-UNES-USU (Sveitsi) NUS-UK (Iso-Britannia) sekä Eurooppalaisten liittojen kattojärjestö ESU – European Student’s Union. Seuraavalla sivulla ESU:n tukikirje Suomen korkeakouluopiskelijoille. ESU – European Students’ Union Rue de la Sablonnière 20 1000 Brussels Belgium T : +32-2-502 23 62 F : +32-2-706 48 26 E : secretariat@esu-online.org www.esu-online.org Dear students of Finland, dear minister Virkkunen, dear members of the Eduskunta, The European Students’ Union, the umbrella organisation for 45 national unions of students in 37 countries representing over 11 million students, hereby affirms its support for Finnish students in their struggle to keep higher education free and open to all. Education is a public good. Funds allocated to higher education must not be seen as expenses but rather as an investment in the future of a society. Not only is the investment an economic one, leading to further development of society, but it also lays a foundation for a democratic, tolerant and critically minded society. While students themselves do benefit personally from higher education in terms of increased employment opportunities and personal development, these are gains also at a societal level and should be recognised as such. Public spending on higher education is thus an investment in the future of the society. If the goals that European governments have agreed upon in creating the European Higher Education Area are to be met, discriminating against mobile students by imposing tuition fees on them cannot be considered an option. Among the prerequisites of such an area is that students have possibilities to take all or part of their studies in a country other than their own. There are already various obstacles to such mobility, and the governments of Europe must work to reduce the barriers that still exist rather than raise new ones. Imposing tuition fees on mobile students works directly against the aims of the Bologna process and impedes the development of a European Higher Education Area. Another aim of the Bologna process is to make European higher education visible at the global level. This means that the idea of mobility can not only be envisaged as internal mobility within Europe but must also include possibilities for students from different parts of the world to study in Europe. Imposing tuition fees on students from outside the EU/EEA in Finland goes against this and thus impedes societal and economic development of Finland as well as affecting the entire region negatively in the global perspective. The European Students’ Union fully supports the struggle of students in Finland and all around the world against the imposition of tuition fees and turning education into a commodity. Education is a public responsibility and ESU urges all European governments to continue to treat it as such. With best regards, Ligia Deca, chairperson ESU – The European Students’ Union – is the umbrella organisation of 45 national unions of students from 37 countries and through these members represent over 11 million students. The aim of ESU is to represents and promote the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of students at a European level towards all relevant bodies and in particular the European Union, Bologna Follow-Up Group, Council of Europe and UNESCO.