Development work in student tutoring awarded equality and diversity prize

The University’s equality and diversity award, the Maikki Friberg Prize, as well as the Occupational Safety and Wellbeing Award, were presented at the “Occupational Wellbeing Afternoon” event on 4 June.

The Maikki Friberg Prize is awarded for distinguished efforts to promote equality and inclusion at the University. This year, the prize was awarded to a small working group composed of faculty tutor coordinators, who in recent years have developed the training provided to new student tutors.

As a result of the group’s work, a new equality and inclusion module has been included in tutor training for the past three years. The module covers responsible interaction and focuses on promoting equality, disability inclusion, anti-racism, and LGBTQ+ sensitivity in the tutor role. It also addresses unconscious biases, inclusive language, and how to organise inclusive meetings for first-year students.

Nearly a thousand student tutors welcome new students each year. Education Specialist Eva Neffling, responsible for coordinating the network of tutor coordinators and the development of tutor training, points out that tutoring is not just about partying, as is often assumed.

– Tutors are often the first point of contact for new students at the University and play a significant role in helping them integrate into the university community.

– Although tutoring itself is mainly limited to the orientation week, tutor training lasts several months. Tutors’ role as peer guides is invaluable, and it would be important for the university to recognise more broadly the importance of peer support among students, Neffling notes.

Warm congratulations to the award recipients!

Interested in becoming a tutor? Recruitment for new tutors will take place again next autumn. Read more about the role on the Apply to become a tutor page in the Studies Service.

Photo: Sonja Waldmannstetter (University of Helsinki)