Israel boycott is at the centre of coordinated protests on university campuses across the country, as hundreds of students walked out of classes on Wednesday to demand that universities end institutional ties with Israeli partners.
Walkouts spread from Helsinki to other Finnish campuses
On Wednesday 3 December, a coordinated campaign of walkouts and demonstrations took place at universities in Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Kuopio, with smaller support actions at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi and the University of Oulu. The protests were organised by Students for Palestine Finland, a national student-led movement calling for an academic boycott of Israel.
At the University of Helsinki, organisers estimated that more than 700 students and staff left classes and gathered at the main building in the city centre. Protesters also joined from Aalto University and the University of the Arts Helsinki. In Tampere, around 200–250 students participated in a rally outside the main campus, while smaller demonstrations were held in Turku and Kuopio.
Participants held Palestinian flags, banners and signs calling on universities to “cut ties with apartheid” and “stop funding occupation”, while speeches highlighted civilian casualties in Gaza and the destruction of schools and universities in the territory. The walkouts were timed for 13:00 local time to underline that regular teaching and research activities should not continue “as normal” while the war in Gaza is ongoing.
Demands for an academic boycott and Horizon Europe projects
The core demand of Students for Palestine Finland is that universities adopt a formal academic boycott of Israel, in line with calls from the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The movement stresses that it does not seek to limit individual academic freedom, but to end institutional cooperation and flows of research funding to Israeli universities.
At the University of Helsinki, demonstrators focused in particular on the institution’s participation in 15 Horizon Europe research projects that include Israeli partners. Activists argue that withdrawing from these EU-funded collaborations would send a clear signal that Finnish universities consider human rights violations and the treatment of Palestinians incompatible with their ethical commitments.
Speakers at the Helsinki protest also called for transparency about existing collaborations with Israeli institutions, including research consortia, joint degrees and mobility agreements. In their view, universities should publish clear lists of partners and timelines for phasing out cooperation.
University leaders emphasise academic freedom and limited Israel ties
University leaders have so far responded cautiously to the protests. At the University of Tampere, Vice-Rector Jarmo Takala told Finnish media that the institution currently has no active links to Israeli universities, though he acknowledged that the debate around ethical collaboration is important.
At the University of Eastern Finland, Rector Tapio Määttä noted that the university has some older cooperation agreements with Israeli institutions, but no active projects that could immediately be suspended. He underlined that decisions on research partners are typically taken by individual research groups and faculties.
In Helsinki, Director of Administration Esa Hämäläinen reiterated the university’s position that EU research projects fall under academic freedom. According to this line, the university does not impose blanket bans on specific countries or institutions, even in the absence of formal international sanctions. At the same time, researchers retain the right to refuse cooperation with Israeli entities if they consider it ethically problematic.
This approach builds on a framework set out in 2024, when the University of Helsinki reassessed its collaboration with Israeli universities amid earlier student protests. At that time, the university suspended a student exchange programme with Israeli partners but maintained research cooperation, arguing that the freedom of research is a core principle that should not be limited without strong legal grounds.
A new chapter in Finnish campus activism on Gaza
The latest walkouts mark an escalation of pro-Palestinian campus activism in Finland. In spring 2024, students and researchers established an encampment outside the University of Helsinki’s city centre campus to protest the war in Gaza and call for an end to institutional ties with Israel. The encampment inspired similar initiatives at other Finnish universities and led to the creation of networks such as Researchers for Palestine.
Since then, student groups have organised teach-ins, panel discussions and petitions addressing the impact of the war on Palestinian higher education, using terms such as “scholasticide” to describe the destruction of schools and universities in Gaza. Demonstrators argue that Finnish institutions cannot invoke academic freedom at home while Palestinian academics and students face systematic obstacles, displacement and attacks on educational infrastructure.
The Students for Palestine Finland movement positions its campaign as part of a wider, transnational wave of campus protests that began in 2023 and intensified in 2024 in Europe, North America and other regions. Finnish organisers point to student occupations and encampments in countries such as the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom as examples of how universities have been pushed to reconsider investments and partnerships linked to Israel.
Reactions from staff and student organisations
The protests have received support from parts of the academic community. At the University of Helsinki, both the Student Union and the Helsinki University Researchers’ Association have expressed backing for calls to end cooperation with Israeli institutions. Statements from these organisations highlight concerns over international humanitarian law, human rights and the role of universities in upholding ethical standards.
Individual lecturers and researchers joined the walkouts or adapted their teaching schedules to allow students to participate. Some staff members have also signed open letters urging university leadership to review partnerships with Israeli universities and to adopt clear ethical guidelines for international collaboration.
At the same time, there is no consensus across Finnish campuses. Some academics warn that broad institutional boycotts could undermine academic freedom, create new divisions within universities and complicate participation in EU research consortia. Others argue that universities should follow the lead of governments and international organisations, and only sever ties when formal sanctions or legal obligations are in place.
