The Association of the Finnish History Students (Historian Opiskelijain Liitto, abbreviation Hol), is the central organization of history students in Finland, most of history student societies as acting members. Nowadays there are eleven student societies belonging to the HOL from six different cities: Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Joensuu and Oulu.
In Finland student societies are founded by students themselves. Their main objective is to take care of the student’s interests in their own universities. They bring forward students’ opinions, for example when new exam requirements and teaching methods are planned. They also offer students all kinds of get-togethers to spend their free time; some even think this is student society’s main objective.
The idea of co-operation between student societies from different universities was put forward in the mid 1960’s when Finland’s university-network was expanding. The Hol was founded in 1966 and it’s run by an executive committee, in which every student society has one representative. For every term there is always so-called host-student society that has three seats in the executive committee: president, secretary and treasurer. Nevertheless the host-student society has only one vote. The duty of host-student society changes between members every year in beforehand agreed order and this change happens at the annual Hol spring seminar. Besides the spring seminar there is also every year a fall seminars and they are the main events of the Hol, where historians and history students from all the universities meet and discuss about questions of history under one major theme, without forgetting the not-so-formal evening program.
The Hol has an important role in co-operation between history students from different universities; it provides the settings for discussion about the problems that might face history students. It also maintains the relations with Finnish trade unions, for example Akavan Erityisalat (Akava Special Branches), which belongs to The Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland.
