By Eero Piimies, Associate Editor of Ylioppilaslehti of Finland.

One of the most important objectives of international and national student policy Is to uplift the social conditions prevailing In the student world. In those countries where the potential of student activity is not used up in lighting for various liberties, aspirations for social betterment make up the principal part of the programme. Finland long ago passed the stage of fighting for liberties, but still unsolved in our country are a large number of problems affecting students, among which the shortage of housing is one of the most acute and timely issues.

Nearly all the university towns in Europe are experiencing the familiar phenomenon of housing shortage, especially at the undergraduate level, and in Finland there are additional reasons for this: matriculated students have enrolled in institutions located in the two largest cities in the country; the need of post-war reconstruction; steady migration of people from rural areas into the cities. The grievous lack of room for students immediately after the war forced students to enter into a bold undertaking on their own—building low-cost dormitories for themselves. However, even now, only about fifteen per cent of the student population live in cheap dormitories. In Helsinki, where the total enrolment of the University and other various institutions of higher learning is approximately 16,000 and constitutes the largest student community in Finland, the fourteen dormitory buildings erected can house only about 2,000 students. Others must live at home, with relatives or in rented rooms which vary considerably in quality. Married students have the greatest difficulties finding living quarters in this capital city.