Active citizenship is a goal in which universities want to invest: student activism has shown to increase students' skills and support positive study atmosphere. The purpose of this study was to analyse university students' motives for participating in student activism in order to find out ways of enhancing the development of active citizenship in students. This was a narrative study in which 47 student activists of Finnish university student activist organisations wrote their personal narratives about their careers as student activists. According to the data, the students had many motives for participating in student activism, such as making friends, fixing deficits in the study environment and benefitting their future work careers. The study also showed that sometimes students participated in student activism only by a coincidence. Based on the findings, suggestions for practical means to develop active citizenship in university students are discussed from the point of view of students themselves, teachers and universities.

Active citizenship is an important political goal in the Finnish society. In this study, the challenges faced in student activism were studied through twelve student activists' narratives. The activists interviewed in this study were the chairpersons of the Finnish student unions at universities. The study leaned on the Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory. Challenges the interviewees mentioned were categorized into social, functional, emotion, and cognitive challenges and related resources. The positive coping with these challenges was analyzed through the elements of PYD. An especially relevant finding was that the student activists showed the development of active citizenship, which was contrasted as the sixth "C" of PYD, contributions to self, others, and society.

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