Finnish Centre Students fi, Keskustaopiskelijat is one of the oldest political student organizations in Finland and the student wing of the Centre Party. Famous ex-members include Chairman of Shell

Jorma Ollila Jorma Jaakko Ollila CBE (born 15 August 1950) is a Finnish businessman who was chairman of Royal Dutch Shell from 1 June 2006 to May 2015, and at Nokia Corporation chairman from 1999 to 2012 and CEO from 1992 to 2006. He has been a director of ...

and one of the most well known Finnish politicians

Paavo Väyrynen Paavo Matti Väyrynen (born 2 September 1946) is a Finnish politician and former member of the Finnish Parliament who has represented the Seven Star Movement, the Citizen's Party and Centre Party. He is currently member of Centre Party. Väyryn ...

. Ex-president

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

was giving a speech in the founding event. Ex-Prime Minister

Johannes Virolainen Johannes Virolainen (; 31 January 1914 – 11 December 2000) was a Finnish politician and who served as 30th Prime Minister of Finland. Virolainen was born near Viipuri. After the Continuation War Virolainen moved to Lohja, but he remained one ...

was the first Secretary General of the organisation. From the current Centre Party's parliamentary group for example

Katri Kulmuni Katri Briitta Ilona Kulmuni (born 4 September 1987) is a Finnish politician who served as the 35th deputy prime minister of Finland and the leader of the Centre Party between 2019 and 2020. A member of the Centre Party, she has been a Member of ...

Petri Honkonen Petri Erkki Olavi Honkonen (born 29 July 1987) is a Finnish politician, representing the Centre Party in the Parliament of Finland since 2015. He was born in Pylkönmäki, and was elected to the Parliament from the Central Finland constituency in ...

, Antti Kurvinen, Hilkka Kemppi and

Anu Vehviläinen Anu Helena Vehviläinen (born 9 September 1963) is a Finnish politician for the Centre Party who served as Speaker of the Finnish Parliament from 2020 to 2022. She has previously held various cabinet positions, including Finland's Minister of L ...

have been active members of the organisation during their studies. Finnish Centre Students is a member of the

European Liberal Youth European Liberal Youth (abbreviated as LYMEC) is an international organisation of liberal youth movements – mostly the youth wings of members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party but also individual members. LYMEC holds ...

(LYMEC) and

Nordic Center Youth Nordic Center Youth (Swedish: ''Nordiska Centerungdomens Förbund'') is a Nordic political organisation for centrist youth and student organisations. It was founded in 1965 and today has 16 000 individual members. NCF's working language is Englis ...

(NCF)

History

The organisation was founded before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

on 23 April 1937 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

under name Maalaisliittolaiset Ylioppilaat (Agrarian League Students). The reason for founding was frustration towards

Academic Karelia Society The Academic Karelia Society (''Akateeminen Karjala-Seura'', AKS) was a ethnic Finn, Finnish nationalist and Finno-Ugric countries, Finno-Ugric activist organization aiming at the growth and improvement of newly independent Finland, founded by aca ...

, which was turning right in Finnish political spectrum. To underline its anti-fascist political ideas the new political organization invited well known anti-fascist

Rudolf Holsti Eino Rudolf Woldemar Holsti (8 October 1881 in Jyväskylä – 3 August 1945 in Palo Alto, California) was a Finnish politician, journalist and diplomat. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1919–1922 and in 1936–1938 and a ...

and the future President of Finland

to speak in the opening event. The World War II halted activities of the organization for over half a decade. After the war a new name Akateemiset Maaseudun Nuoret (Academic Youth of Countryside) was taken into use. The current name is from year 1966 when the organization had become a strong influencer in Finnish education politics. It demanded all the power to the students in universities and got the support of Finnish Minister of Education

. Nevertheless, the other parties did not support the radical idea and Finland got a triangular decision making structure in its universities. Finnish Centre Students got a lot of power in

National Union of University Students in Finland The National Union of University Students in Finland ( fi, Suomen ylioppilaskuntien liitto (SYL) ry, sv, Finlands studentkårers förbund (FSF) rf) is the largest national organisation providing benefits and services for students in Finland. Its ...

in the 1970s. It got its own man

(the future Chairman of

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

and

UPM UPM may refer to: * Ultra-pure metal * UPM (company), UPM-Kymmene Oyj, a pulp and paper company * Union pour la méditerrannée, Mediterranean Community * Union for a Popular Movement, opposition party of France * Unit production manager, someone ...

) to chair the National Union of University Students. Later Finnish Centre Student had a key role in turning the Centre Party into an anti-nuclear party. Ecology and sustainability became its major political issues in the 1980s. One of the major works, which influenced in Finnish Centre Party ecological policy was ''Avaus äärikeskustaan'' (Opening to the Extreme Centre). It was written by the Finnish Centre Student activists

Alpo Rusi Alpo Rusi (born 17 August 1949, in Jyväskylä) served in the Foreign Ministry of Finland in several assignments (Hamburg, Copenhagen, New York, Bonn), and from 1994 to 1999 as foreign policy adviser to the President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. He ...

and Juha Kuisma. The work was harsh criticism towards politics of economic growth.

References

External links

Keskustaopiskelijat Website
{{Centre Party (Finland) Centre Party (Finland) Youth wings of political parties in Finland Youth wings of liberal parties Student political organizations