University of the Third Age at the University of Helsinki Hanna Heikkilä

1. 21 years of UTA in Finland 2. Principles and goals 3. Activities 4. Who are our students and why do they study 5. UTAs in Finland 6. Networks 7. Resources 8. Future

University of the Third Age 21 years in Helsinki and in Finland Launched in 1985 Integral part of the University: special form of Open university Open university in Finland (Ministry of Education 1993): “A system offering extramural courses in accordance with university degree course requirements for students with no formal background qualifications”  Public service  Part of Universities adult education in 19 universities The meeting place of life experience & scientific knowledge

Principles Academic studies w/o formal requirements or qualifications - Teachers are universitys lecturers, researchers & other experts - No grades, study units or exams Co-operative planning of the study contents  separates us from the rest of the open university Open to all  Wellcomes everyone regardles of educational background  No age limits  Teaching takes place at day time: convinient to seniors Promotes life-long learning

Goals Convey the latest scientific knowledge to senior citizens Improve the mental, social and physical wellbeing of senior citizens Support senior citizens independent coping in the rapidly changing world Promote intergenerational, educational & regional equality Provide a way to utilize the experience, knowledge and expertise of senior citizens Support age-related research and public discussion

Activities Multidisciplinary lecture series  The themes and content are planned in co-operation with the students  The lecturers are university lecturers and other experts  Popular topics next autumn are i.e. Art and its significance, Health and ageing, Politics and Cultures of South America, Finno-uqric nations today, etc. Seminars  Selected themes are discussed in small groups  Topics include i.e. literature, art history, architecture, writing of autobiography  Teachers are university lecturers

Activities Research  Our research seminar gathered mostly Carelian tradition during and published selected parts of their work in 10 anthologies on various themes and held several exhibitions  We also support age-related research by providing data and by supporting the research made by personnel Web-based learning  Online courses include discussions, written assignments and data searches on the Internet  Studying can take place anywhere in Finland or abroad

Activities Distance learning  Groups listen and watch distance learning materials and discuss the topic with the guidance of facilitator  Groups are organised in old peoples’ homes, adult education centres or by different organisations Study trips  The themes and content are planned in conjunction with the students  The trips may vary from short local trips to longer ones, even abroad

Who are our students? students in UTA of Helsinki 2005 At 41 localities, in Finnland and abroad Most of them are pensioners, oldest ones are 100 y. Lack of male students Lecture series (47%) and distance learning groups (33%) most popular study forms Educational background varies  For our students this might be the first opportunity to study  The education level of our students seems to be rising

Who are our students?

Why do they study? Studying as a goal it self –no instrumental values like degrees or work Thus it is very important to them that there are no formal achievements and that they will not be evaluated by the teacher and that they influence the contents of study Students are motivated by ’hunger for knowledge’, ’keeping up and with and understanding the rapidly changing world’, mainteance of kognitive skills, establishing social contacts and getting rhytmn to everyday life (Arola 2006, unpublised)

UTA’s in Finland In 9 Open Universities In 80 localities in Finland & abroad students Varying ways of organization and realization

UTA’s in Finland The number of students is constantly growing: In less than ten years 25 % of the Finns will be pensioners  in the same time people are healthier and live longer than before  The education level of pensioner is rising Educational policy (of i.e. life long learning) concentrates mostly on the working life context (Paloniemi 2006)

Networks Adult education centers, folk high schools, summer universities, cultural institutions − Activities are organized in in co-operation with adult education organisations − The already existing dense network of adult education organisations helped the launching of UTA Grundtvik 2 funded project Voices in action ( ); partners in four EU-country  Aims to empower older people who experience disadvantage to take a more active role in issues that affect their everyday lives 

Networks National advisory board of the third age universities − founded in 1989 to develop and co-ordinate the activity nation- wide − AIUTA  Association Internationale des Universités du Troisième Age  International network of more than UTA’s  UTA of Helsinki member since 1987

Resources In Helsinki one full time co-ordinator and one part-time secretary Funded by Ministry of Education, co-operation partners and student-fees  Varies in different UTA’s in Finland, i.e. municipalities can provide funding  UTA’s have no separate funding due to the lack of formal study attainments Project to secure funding and unify the profile of UTAs in Finland has started. First steps:  register UTA student as students of University  unify the forms of study

Where to go from here? One better known profile as a special form of Open University Better regional equality & flexibility through (distance &) e- learning? Participatory research? Intergenerational work? Role of voluntary work?

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