SATY’s 50th anniversary in 2023
SATY celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. The main event was a cultural event for members in various university cities during the same week in October.
Events:
Helsinki:
Thursday, October 5: Transit, Tero Saarinen Company, Tanssin talo
Friday, October 6: Nukkekoti [A Doll’s House], KOM-teatteri
Jyväskylä:
Thursday, October 5: Masked Company: Näkymätön, Jyväskylä City Theatre
Tampere:
Friday, October 6: Pienen hauen pyydystys, Tampereen Työväen Teatteri
Turku:
Thursday, October 12: Ei kertonut katuvansa, Turku City Theatre
Short history of SATY
SATY was registered under the name The Association of the Researchers of the Academy of Finland in the Finnish register of associations on February 27, 1973. At that time, SATY belonged to the Union of Higher Education Assistants (KAL), which in turn was a member organization of the Central Union of Office Personnel and Civil Servant Organizations (VTK). Since its founding, SATY was different from other KAL member associations, as our members were not assistants working in universities, but research assistants as well as junior and senior researchers employed by the Academy of Finland or grant receiving senior scientists. Thus, the union changed its name to the Union of University Assistants and Researchers (later the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers, FUURT) in 1978. Since 1986, our union has belonged to AKAVA confederation.
In the mid-1970s, the number of people on annual basis working in research positions and tasks of the Academy of Finland was around 350. There is no information on the number of members of SATY from that time. At the end of the 1980s, there were about 360 people in the Academy’s research positions (excluding those who received the senior scientist grant) and SATY’s membership was close to 200 members. Towards the middle of the 1990s, the number of members increased to around 260 members. At that time, the establishment of doctoral schools meant the gradual abolition of research assistant positions by the end of the 1990s.
Currently SATY has around 370 members. In terms of the range of employers and areas of work, our members are remarkably more heterogeneous compared to the association’s first decades.