Accessibility and individual services
Table of contents
Accessibility and individual services
General information about the services and costs
The University of Jyväskylä deems it important that students' needs for accessibility and individual services are accommodated at the university as far as possible. The university is committed to developing its learning environments and practices according accessible education.
In regards to Finnish students with disabilities, their home municipality is in charge of services such as personal assistants, transportation services, as well as interpretation and translation services. This does not cover international students, and universities have no allowances for individual services.
The university also hires student tutors (students of our university) to assist all international students in practical matters in the beginning of their stay. However, a tutor cannot be compared to a personal assistant, and one tutor usually tutors 5-6 students at the same time. Please see below for information on how to hire a personal assistant.
Grants for Erasmus / Nordplus students
Some student exchange programmes (for instance Erasmus and Nordplus) include a possibility of obtaining accessibility grants. Please contact the Erasmus / Nordplus coordinator of your home university for further information. Information for Erasmus students is also available on the European Commission website.
If you come to our university through an exchange programme other than Erasmus or Nordplus, please inquire about the possibilities for an accessibility grant from your home university.
Accommodation
International students registered at the University of Jyväskylä can apply for housing from KOAS or Soihtu student housing units where a few tailored rooms are available for students with mobility impairments. The student apartments are located approximately 2.5-4 kilometres from the Main Campus and the city centre. If you have special requests concerning accommodation, please inform the student housing provider or, if you are an exchange student, the International Office about them and apply for accommodation as early as possible before your arrival.
Physical accessibility
The university buildings and units are situated on three different campus areas. Accessibility has been taken quite well into consideration in the buildings in Mattilanniemi, Ylistönrinne, and buildings of the Agora and Ruusupuisto.
The older university buildings have been repaired to provide easy access for all users (i.e. the buildings include an elevator or an appropriate slide). These buildings include Historica (H), Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences (L), building A, Musica (M), Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication in building Oppio (O), building (T), YTHS, Student Union building (Yo-talo) and Seminarium building (S).
The F building does not provide easy access for all users. Some of the toilets in the older university buildings are quite difficult to access because of their small size.
Please inform your faculty or, if you are an exchange student, the International Office and the faculty-level coordinator at JYU before your arrival about your needs to guarantee easy access to all lecture rooms. If the notification is received early enough the lecture room can be changed. If you want to take language courses from the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication, you should notify the Centre already approximately one month before the beginning of the semester, to guarantee an easy access, if possible.
Campus area map
Accessible learning environments
A few lecture halls at the university are equipped with an induction loop for students using a hearing aid. In addition, a WLAN network is in operation in most of the university buildings.
Information on the WLAN coverage of the university
Celia is a specialist library in Finland providing literature for the visually impaired and those with other print disabilities. University course books can be borrowed from Celia free of charge. Books available include talking books, Braille and/or e-books.
Please note however, that the collections of Celia do not include all the course books used at the University of Jyväskylä. Celia can also acquire new books according to students' needs, if they receive the request 2-3 months prior to the time that the book is needed.
Studying and individual arrangements
Issues related to studying and study counselling should be discussed first with the head of the department or the professor in charge of your major subject. If possible, it would be good to include the education coordinator, the examiner of the course or the study programme and the person in charge of the possible course.
Please inform us in good time if you need special arrangements in classrooms and/or examinations (for example easy access to lecture rooms, or exam arrangements due to dyslexia). The student is expected to present a medical certificate or equivalent grounds for the special arrangements in English. If you have a statement of the special arrangements made in your home university, please present also that in English.
Support for the use of Sisu
If you cannot use Sisu because of accessibility issues (visual impairment), please contact us at tuula.maijanen@jyu.fi. We will then book for you an appointment with the accessibility coordinator of your discipline. The accessibility coordinator and your education coordinator help you in making a study plan and registering yourself for the courses. The appointment can take place in person or through remote connections. You don’t need any medical certificate in order to receive special support for the use of Sisu.
Transportation and moving around
Some of the local buses are accessible with a wheelchair, but it may be difficult to know beforehand which shift is driven with such a bus. Therefore it is recommended that persons using a wheelchair use a taxi or the service transport provided by the City of Jyväskylä for transportation in the Jyväskylä area. The service transport service costs the standard bus fare and a taxi costs around 14 euros for a 5 kilometres trip during the daytime. An additional fee of approximately 14 euros per trip may be charged if the taxi driver is needed to assist the traveler for example in entering a building.
- Information about travelling by train
- Information about travelling by coach (Matkahuolto)
- Information about travelling by Onnibus
Personal assistance
The costs of hiring a personal assistant are reimbursed by the student's home municipality if the student is a permanent resident of Finland. Students who are not permanent residents of Finland must cover the costs of hiring a personal assistant themselves.
Parking
There are accessible parking places reserved for persons with disabilities on campus. You need to apply for a person-specific disabled parking permit from the local police.
Special diets
Campus area restaurants offer different lunch options. For example, vegan and gluten-free options are available daily. You can always ask the staff for more information. The menus for the campus area restaurants of Semma, Ilokivi and Taide can be found on the internet. Most student restaurants provide easy access to students with mobility impairments, except for the restaurant Lozzi (building P).
