Tampere to become the most student-friendly city in Finland

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On Thursday 25 September Mayor Anna-Kaisa Ikonen announced Tampere’s goal to become the most student-friendly city in Finland and there was a student festival in Tullikamari to celebrate the matter.

During the spring, Finland’s Most Student-Friendly City target programme has been prepared in Tampere making use of wide-ranging co-operation. Discussions regarded, among other things, housing, services, traffic and employment. Both students and experts were given the opportunity to express their views on what student-friendly Tampere is like and how the comfort of students and the smoothness of everyday life can be further improved.

– We have now compiled the workshop results from this spring. Mainly based on the thoughts gathered from students, we now have an excellent starting point for building a truly student-friendly Tampere, says Mayor Anna-Kaisa Ikonen.

Next, the proposals will undergo the city’s political and official preparations and then implementation. The Tullikamari festival celebrated the fact that students, the city and partners are taking Tampere forward together. For the city, students are in many ways an important group.

– Students introduce youthfulness and positivity to our cityscape. They are a crucial factor from the perspective of the city’s success and appeal. Tampere is known as a city of knowledge that attracts companies and investments as well as generates new innovations, business activities and jobs.  For years, the universities have been the dynamos of regional development and, for its own part, the city also wants to promote their appeal, says Mayor Ikonen.

All students of Tampere were invited to an evening event on Thursday 25 September. The idea was to organise Finland’s most student-friendly bash.

– Free entry with all student cards, reasonable prices, a great crowd and music that makes people move, that is what is needed for a great party, says Lauri Koponen of Student's Tampere association, who was in charge of the event.