Finland
Corporations in Finland are called in Finnish osakunta, in English, "nations". The name refers to the historical custom of the continental universities where students usually formed corporations according to their home nations. In Swedish universities, the same practice was followed by the provinces but the name remained. The Finnish version of the name actually is an archaic form of department, and this name was adopted to replace the term "kansakunta" ("nation" in the purely ethnic sense) during the 19th century when the Russian government tried to diminish the importance of nations as political organizations.
Earlier, it was traditional for students to belong to the nations of their provinces. Since 1937, students could resign from their nation, but they still had to pay the fee to the nation throughout their time at the university. This compulsory fee was abolished in the 1960s. Nowadays, the nations are a feature peculiar to the University of Helsinki, the oldest Finnish university and they concentrate on the student culture. There is also a Swedish-speaking nation, Teknologföreningen, at Aalto University School of Science and Technology.
In most universities, the primary form of corporation is an association of students majoring in a particular subject. In the universities of technology, these are called guilds.
In addition to the voluntary corporations, every Finnish university student is also required to be a member of the general student corporation of the university, the Student Union (ylioppilaskunta, studentkår), which has the power to levy a membership fee. The union also has the legal power to represent the students to the university administration and in all other matters. It also organizes the health care of the students.
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