Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS@RISE), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2024 Jul-Sep;45(3):483-498. doi: 10.1080/02701960.2023.2231375. Epub 2023 Jul 5.
Universities of the Third Age (U3A), lifelong learning institutes, and "senior universities" are terms used to describe organizations that provide education for older adults, specifically for those who are retired or in the "third age" of life. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive, historical overview of the evolution of these organizations across global settings. This article highlights the importance of older adult education while discussing U3A's structure and models. The article explores the origins and historical development of the U3A model and its influence on recent initiatives like the Age-Friendly Universities movement. It then focuses on the impact of French and British Models of U3A on providing older adult education. There is a general discussion of the expansion of these organizations in several countries and a comparison of each's curricular structure and approach. The article concludes with suggested future directions and potential areas of improvement (e.g. technology access, accessibility, and inclusion of older adult learners; diverse needs and interests) and ways these models can remain relevant to the ever-changing older adult learner population. Through this analysis, the article contributes to the understanding of U3A organizations and their role in promoting lifelong learning for older adults.
大学第三年龄（U3A）、终身学习学院和“老年大学”是用来描述为老年人提供教育的组织的术语，特别是为那些退休或处于人生“第三年龄”的人提供教育。本文的目的是提供一个全面的、历史的视角，了解这些组织在全球范围内的演变。本文在讨论 U3A 的结构和模式时，强调了老年教育的重要性。本文探讨了 U3A 模式的起源和历史发展及其对最近的倡议，如“老年友好型大学”运动的影响。然后，本文重点关注法国和英国 U3A 模式对提供老年教育的影响。本文还对这些组织在几个国家的扩张进行了一般性讨论，并对每个组织的课程结构和方法进行了比较。文章最后提出了未来的发展方向和可能的改进领域（例如，技术获取、可及性和老年学习者的包容性；多样化的需求和兴趣），以及这些模式如何保持与不断变化的老年学习者群体的相关性。通过这种分析，本文有助于理解 U3A 组织及其在促进老年人终身学习方面的作用。
