Uniarts Helsinki standardises its mass email policy and introduces a new communication platform on 2 June 2025

Mailing lists with a large group of recipients are allowed only for communication related to work and studies

Uniarts Helsinki’s academies have had different policies on which persons have the right to send messages to mass email lists, which reach the entire body of students or staff of an academy. Representatives of the Student Union and other members of the community have pointed out that the mailing rights put students and staff in an unequal position and wished that the university would introduce a standard mass email policy for all academies.

The introduction of uniform mailing rights was discussed by the executive groups of all academies and the Uniarts Helsinki executive group and together with Student Union representatives during the 2024–2025 academic year. Based on the discussions, it was decided that the mailing rights will be restricted and the use of large lists will be limited to communication related to work and studies. This means that students and staff will no longer have automatic rights to send emails to lists that reach all students or all staff members. In the future, the groups that have the rights to send messages to mass email lists include the university and academy management, the executive assistants, the HR team, the communications team, the academic affairs team and the production team. As regards student lists, the representatives of the Student Union and its divisions retain their mailing rights. The new uniform mailing rights will be valid starting from 2 June 2025. Sending messages to large mass mailing lists will be disabled for unauthorised users on 16 June 2025.

The decision to curb the email volume and dedicate the large email lists to communication related to work and studies was backed up by the fact that lists with all students of the academy as the recipients have been used even for sending messages that are not related to studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Theatre Academy. Many students have felt that the overwhelming volume of emails sent via large email lists is taxing and drowns out study-related communication, such as emails concerning registration for courses and the academic year, personal supervision and grants.

In connection with making the decision on mass email policy, it was agreed that students will be ensured opportunities for open discussions, influencing and organising by launching a new communication platform for exactly this purpose. The selected platform was Viva Engage, which will be added to the default view on Teams for all students and staff members. Viva Engage will include topic-specific channels that can be used for things like promoting events, engaging in discussions on social issues and posting rental ads.

Study-related communication will continue to take place on the Students’ Uniarts website and via emails and the Moodle platform. News published on the Students’ Uniarts website can also be accessed via the Tuudo app and compiled into a student newsletter that is sent out every two weeks. The newsletter also presents the university’s most important decisions and news on how to influence the university’s decision-making. Information on study-related artistic activities, such as performances, concerts and exhibitions will be communicated via the event calendar and newsletters, just like before. Viva Engage has its own channel for setting up artistic working groups and planning cross-artistic collaborations, named “Art and collaboration”, but when needed, announcements can also be shared on the Students’ Uniarts website and on student email lists.

How to reach fellow students from now on

The new communication platform offered for communication among community members is Viva Engage. When you are using Teams on your computer, you can find Viva Engage as the top icon of the left-side toolbar. You can also download the Viva Engage app on your phone. You can find the app in your phone’s app store.

You can reach all members of the university through Viva Engage, not just the students of your academy. The communication platform is intended for promoting non-study-related artistic activities, engaging in discussions on social issues and activism and posting rental ads, for example. The platform also has a channel for Academy of Fine Arts technicians to share information on everyday activities, such as exceptions to the use of workshops. You can customise the platform by choosing which channels you want to follow. You can also customise your email or device notification settings for the platform. 

Viva Engage will be piloted during the 2025–2026 academic year, and after that, it is time to review if students have found the platform useful. The platform will be promoted actively to students in orientation sessions, and highlights of topics that have come up on the platform will be included in student newsletters so that as many students as possible would start following the channels that they find interesting.

We recommend that students follow the social media platforms of the Student Union and the divisions, such as the Instagram account managed by the Student Union @taiyoartsu, the Sibelius Academy students’ account @siba.united and the Theatre Academy students’ account @teakjaosto. The Student Union also sends out its weekly newsletter to all Uniarts Helsinki students. Students who are interested in activism are encouraged to follow the account @uniartsstudentactivism on Instagram.