On the occasion of the parliamentary elections September 25th, the Student Council has held the campaign “Students deserve better“, regarding the need to take targeted measures to ensure students’ financial security permanently. This is a continuation of the Student Council’s campaign from January 2021 “Don’t students deserve better?“. Since the beginning of 2020, the Student Council has advocated for students’ access to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, improvements in the Student Loan System and student employment and income security, which has been based on a variety of information and data that the Student Council has collected and even obtained itself, since the data is lacking.
The Student Council has conducted a total of seven surveys, either individually or in collaboration with others, on the situation of students in the labor market and mental health, submitted six review to parliament concerning amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act and measures to reduce the pandemics impact, resolutions about the Student Education Fund before legalization and a number of documents, demands, appeals and declarations.
For this reason, the Student Council has compiled an overview of the issues in the political parties’ policies that concern students. The summary takes into account the election emphases and / or election policies of the parties they have published on their websites or printed, not their general policies. The aim was to look into whether the parties had taken into account the emphases of the students and the student movements and whether they intend to take steps forward in those specific areas during the next election period.
The issues looked into only concern students at the university level, taking into account the emphasis of the student movements. The issues are regarding the university funding, access to education, teaching, learning methods and research, the Student Loan System, students’ access to the unemployment insurance system, housing, mental health and parents.
It is disappointing that students’ issues are not given more attention than is actually the case and that there is no emphasis on improved funding for the university level, which is a prerequisite for universities to be able to carry out their basic operations and services. We are also saddened to see that certain parties have not been able to update their education policy, which has remained unchanged for years and therefore does not take into account the situation as it is today. We are pleased, however, that the demands of the students have received some support and the issues that were most talked about during the epidemic have even found their way into the policies. That is not enough though. Students’ issues must be part of the parties’ overall policy and they must be guaranteed continued attention after the election.The Student Council reiterates that the summary is based on the political parties’ election emphases and / or electoral policies, as they reflect the issues that the parties place the greatest emphasis on before the next election period. If you have any comments on the summary, you should contact the Student Council’s office (shi@hi.is).
