PRELUDE

Nowadays there is a broad consensus that continuing participation in learning throughout life is beneficial to economic prosperity, social solidarity, as well as to the psychological maturity of society as a whole. However, this judgment has not transformed traditional educational practice, and there remains a sharp division of educational opportunities between younger and older people. Indeed, one consistent fact throughout the Southern and Mediterranean European region, especially when one looks at the Maltese scenario, is the lack of educational provision for third agers. One is triggered to ask 'Why?' : Why is older adult education emphasised in both the popular media and academic literature, but then - as happened recently in Malta ? when the University of Malta coordinated a computer course for third agers it ends up being reported in newspapers? Did such an occurrence result from our joy at knowing that older persons are involved in an educational session, or because it is not socially ënon-normal' for third agers to engage in educational meetings, and let alone, computer courses?

This presentation was, of course, not written as a practical manual that asks how such programmes should be set up, co-ordinated and administered. It is rather an attempt to review the phenomenon of the provision for third age university education. Consequently, my paper contains four major sections. First, I will introduce briefly the situation in Malta regarding educational provision for third agers. Secondly, I will address the Bologna Declaration on a European Higher Education Area vis-à-vis the realm of educational gerontology. The third section presents what I believe is good practice in third age university programmes. Finally, I will share with you what I think should be the concerns of the educational gerontological community in the foreseeable future. In a nutshell, this presentation seeks to answer two irreducible questions:

?        how can we increase the number of university programmes for third agers? and
?        to what end should third age university programmes be coordinated?

However, before getting any further, I feel that have to make clear my interpretation of the 'third age' concept. With all due respect to the late Peter Laslett, a true inspiration throughout my academic life, I do not concur fully with his interpretation of the third age. Whilst I agree with his definition of the third age as a "period of personal fulfilment, following the second stage of independence, maturity, responsibility, earning, and saving", I am more cautious about positing it as "preceding the fourth age of final dependence [and] decrepitude" (Laslett, 1989, p. 4).      Following Young and Schullerís (1991, p. 181) argument I believe that this tarnishes the fourth age, and hence, shifts the labelling problem "older and more defenceless people". Laslett's view that it is impossible to banish physical debility at the end of the life course is, of course, realistic. Yet, disabled and frail older persons still find much to live for, and thus, can take the role of the most positive of third agers. Therefore, my approach does not limit third ageness to young-old older persons who are active in the 'normal' sense but refers to flexible form of successful ageing that has different interpretations according to different levels of physical, social, and cultural capital.

UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES FOR THE THIRD AGE IN MALTA

Focusing on Malta, you may know that the Maltese Archipelago consists of a series of limestone blocks with a surface area of 312 square kilometres. Malta is the main island and supports 94 per cent of the population.

Malta has only one university, the University of Malta, which owes much of its origins to a Jesuit-run college set up by direct papal intervention as early as 1592. The University of Malta has no university programmes for the third age. At present, it does not have anything that approximates a University Extension Service Department or a Department of Extra-Mural Studies. The University has no special regulations or arrangements for persons aged 60 or over, although persons aged 23 years and over can enter University without any qualifications whatsoever provided they pass a basic interview. This is, nevertheless, only applicable to undergraduate courses in the humanities and not in the faculties of law, medicine, education, engineering or architecture. As a matter of fact there are only 28 persons aged 60 or over who are reading for a degree at the University of Malta from a total population of almost 9,500 students. This translates to less than half a percent of the total population of the University of Malta.

This is not the same as saying that the University of Malta is oblivious to the gerontological revolution. In 1989, the University established an International Institute of Gerontology, recently renamed as the European Centre of Gerontology, with the mandate to develop inter-disciplinary  teaching, education and research in the field of ageing.  The Centre conducts a 9 month programme leading to a Postgraduate Diploma in Gerontology and Geriatrics and a 18 month research programme leading to a Masters' Degree in the same subjects.  These degrees were designed by an international group of experts during a meeting on long-term training in gerontology and geriatrics which was convened in 1989 by the United Nations International Institute on Ageing, with the participation of representatives from WHO and UNESCO. Both programmes, which are run on a full-time basis, offer a unique opportunity for a systematic multi-disciplinary training of people who are either directly involved in the field of ageing or who aspire to embark on a gerontological career. To-date 108 foreign students from 56 different countries, as well as 95 Maltese citizens have read for the Postgraduate Diploma. Another 22 students read for the Mastersí Degree.

Moreover, the Centre organises pre-retirement programmes for older workers.  Each programme consists of 20 sessions, each of two hours' duration. It is aimed at enabling employees who will be retiring from employment during this or the coming year, to prepare themselves for a new lifestyle, socially, economically, psychologically and healthwise.  Thirteen lecturers from various disciplines deal with a wide variety of topics, including nutrition and healthy eating; solitude in old age; successful ageing; social benefits and programmes; role and status of older persons; budgeting in old age; ethical aspects; legal aspects; caring for an older persons, and basic principles in First Aid.

At the same time, the European Centre of Gerontology contains a unique arrangement for third agers as its co-ordinates a University of the Third Age. The U3A was launched in January 1993, as part of the Institute of Gerontology within the University of Malta, and therefore, more in accordance with the French U3A model than the British. The drive behind the founding of the U3A arose neither from community needs nor older persons themselves but directly from university professors. Indeed, the first U3A programme was not launched as a pilot project but as a full-scale activity, one which reflected the aspirations of academics working in gerontology. The lectures are not conducted on campus but in two neighbouring cities. Recently, we have also opened another branch in Maltaís sister island, Gozo.

Although these three cities are all more centrality located than the campus, conducting the U3A lectures away from the Universityís campus means that this third age programme is having no impact upon the mother institution except, of course, economic and administrative implications. If one remembers Michel Foucaultís (1967) argument that people's lives are socially determined and produced through discourses which position subjects in a spatial field of power relations, it can be argued that this segregated approach towards third age education is perhaps tantamount to the act of marginalising older persons in an acceptable and humanist manner.

Here, I feel that we - as educational gerontologists cannot fail to ask : Why did we estrange older students from the normal students? What effect is this having on the third age students? What effect does it have on the University of Malta? What effect is this having on Maltese society as a whole? Answers are, however, not candid and perhaps even contradicting. This is because, on one hand my studies found that segregating older persons fail to respond adequately to the needs and problems of older adults, are too specific to provide differentiated and specialised course programmes, estrange older persons from the rest of population, inclined to be inferior learning centres, and finally embody low levels in the quality of educational experience and courses offered. However, on the other hand, I also found that intergenerational educational centres can lead to greater tolerance, increased comfort and intimacy, partial dissolving of rigid stereotypes, decreasing one's fear of the 'Other', and finally, engendering positive attitudes between persons coming from different age generations. It thus seems that a mixture of both approaches is warranted. However, the level of combination of each level still has to be ascertained. Theoretically, the U3A is open to everybody who is over 60 years old, and willingness to pay a very nominal registration fee. The U3A increased its membership from 180 in 1993, to about 900 last year - a remarkable 500% increase. Nevertheless, one must point out that this includes less than 2% of all persons aged 60 and over in Malta. The question therefore that we need to as ask is : Why do less than 2 percent of older persons avail to the U3A?

Past fieldwork of mine concluded that there are significant differences in the ëtypicalí U3A participant and the ëaverageí Maltese older person (Formosa, 2000). The average U3A member is in the 60-70 age cohort, female, married if male and widowed if female, relatively better educated than his/her older peers, largely middle class, healthy, financially secure, previously employed in a professional occupation, inclined to a certain language style pertinent or educational environment, and predisposed to learn humanities subjects or languages. Of course "lack of interest" and ëlow income and statusí are major barriers to participation. Indeed, in the cohort aged 60 or over, as much as 17.5% have no schooling experience and with 23% left school during their primary school years, Indeed, 81% of the 60 plus cohort have no qualifications whatsoever (NSO, 1998). In addition, a considerable amount of quantitative research has centred on seeking to find out what motivates older persons to enrol in educational programmes. Much of this research has centred around the pair of "expressive" and "instrumental" motives to explain learner motives. Yet my fieldwork produced conflicting results. Some older learners were more instrumentally oriented, while others have expressed a predominance of expressive motives. Furthermore, others still were motivated by a combination of both instrumental and expressive motives.

At this point it is a good idea to shift our focus on the Bologna Declaration on European Space for Higher Education, as it is surely a highly pertinent pronouncement vis-à-vis our concerns (Erasmus, 2003).
 

TOWARDS A EUROPEAN SPACE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

As one of the 29 countries which signed the Declaration, Malta has embarked on a binding commitment to reform its educational system so as to facilitate mobility and recognition of qualifications. Undoubtedly, the Declaration is a key statement on higher education policy and reform in Europe. Its significance is particularly relevant when one considers that the recognition of qualifications within an enlarged Europe depends on the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees. In today's era of globalisation, such recognition will also play an important role in facilitating employability in all participating countries due to the greater degree of transparency in academic recognition.

Without doubt, educational gerontologists should open themselves to the European Space for Higher Education. This is because the Declaration can proliferate numerous new avenues. By stressing so explicitly the need for European higher education as a cohesive system, it provides educational gerontologists a possibility to move in the direction of a coherent European system. At the same time it invites European institutions to compete more resolutely than in the past for students, influence, prestige and money in the world-wide competition of universities. However, and I can never overemphasise this, opening oneself is not synonymous as to asserting we should embrace the Declaration in an oblivious manner. Every social population has its own distinct needs and interests, and older cohorts are no exception. Consequently, my opinion is that whilst the six-goal-tier found in the Declaration are commendable to all students, irrespective of age, I believe that in a micro-gerontological-lifeworld they have to be re-defined so as to accommodate all sectors of third agers. Only so will the Declaration do justice to the specific needs and interests of older learners. I will now go over the Declaration's six major goals.

Its first goal is to deploy a system of easily readable and comparable degrees so that citizens can effectively use their qualifications, competencies and skills throughout the European Higher Education Area. We know that for some third agers, assessment and accreditation techniques are a considerable incentive. However, for others it constitutes an intimidating challenge  ? especially to new learners at the point of joining a course. While those who are confident consumers of learning are well able to exercise choice over accreditation, and appreciate that a certified course is cheaper, those new to learning are not likely to feel that they are able to take it on unless they receive very skilful guidance. Others still, even look down on the contagious 'diploma disease' and look forward to learn in ways that are antithesis from schoolingís obsession with official recognition.

Of course, there is much evidence of the value of accreditation to learners who have not achieved qualifications in initial education and who, over time, became more comfortable with it. However, it still remains that a prerequisite for the deployment of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees for third agers in mind is to reduce the distinct educational barriers faced by older persons so that one increases the number of third agers taking part in third age university programmes. Similar to what is found in international literature (e.g Schuller and Bostyn, 1992), my fieldwork in Malta pointed that there are forms of barriers.

§        First, attitudinal barriers such as disbelieving in being able to learn, embarrassment, lack of education when younger, no confidence, interest and motivation, wanting to rest or avoiding new commitments after a lifetime of work, and fear of technological failure.

§        Second, situational constraints which refer to personal constraints which are beyond the learnerís control and are related to oneís life situation at a particular time. This includes time scheduling, illness, hearing, vision, fatigue and memory. Fear of leaving home, language problems, financial costs and lack of time due to child care, elder care or pursuing other hobbies are other possible situational barriers. Transport, health problems and adequate information in education constituted other problems.

§        And finally, institutional barriers, that is the various organisational practices and procedures which discourage adults from participation in adult education. Such a barrier can be divided into two major aspects, (a) organisational and (b) pedagogical barriers. The former consisted of (i) the centresí physical environment, (ii) the social environment, (iii) flexibility of provision, (iv) location, (v) financial cost, (vi) lack of publicity about opportunity, and finally, (vii) lack of awareness of what is happening. On the other hand, pedagogical barriers may include such aspects as meaningfulness of subjects offered, socio-cultural barriers - such as different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, teaching skills, and "difficulties due to mixed abilities in a learning group.

At this point, I would like to point out that when I say that we have a duty to increase participation of third agers in university programmes, I am not just referring to mere attendance, non-attendance or drop-out rates. In addition to ëpresenceí, participation also pertains to ëcontrolí and ëinvolvementí in the educational field. Participation as ëinvolvementí identifies the extent to which a potential learner is in interaction with or is actively engaged with important elements of or processes in the adult educational event. On the other hand participation as ëcontrolí identifies the extent to which individuals or groups are acting to control the learning environment.

The Declarationís second and third goals are interrelated. They consist in establishing a system based on two main cycles that articulate higher education programmes at undergraduate and graduate levels, and subsequently, the implementation of a second cycle requiring the completion of a first. I acknowledge that these aims have the clear advantage of highlighting which programmes lead to which degree so as to accommodate a diversity of individual and academic interests, as well as putting academic careers in a rational perspective.

However, on the other hand, I feel that this may be too rigid for older persons. If you permit me I would like to recount two local examples from Malta to illustrate better what I am referring to. First, a few years back, our only U3A myopically divided some courses into two hierarchical tiers, stipulating that no course cannot be taken by third agers who had not previously enrolled in that same course in a preceding tier. This simply did not go well with the members. The setting of a pre-requisite cycle proved to be too instrumental and bureaucratic for many third agers, and many dropped out of the educational experience. One third anger expressed his anger to me on the phone, emphasising that third agers enrol in educational ventures to go beyond their social and personal boundaries and not to be constrained by them. Assuming the she is more right than wrong, but at the same time acknowledging that educational ventures cannot proceed without some form of confining cycles, I am of the opinion that the Declarationís second and third goals have to be discussed further before being implemented in third age university education.

The second example relates to the efforts of the European Centre of Gerontology to provide postgraduate training in gerontology. Since many degree courses were founded in the early 1990s, a strict adherence to university rules would mean that very few of older adults or third agers can read for this postgraduate diploma as their extensive knowledge and diplomas are not equal to an undergraduate degree. In this respect, the University has added a clause whereby diplomas read during times when no university degree was available for that particular subject are to be considered as degrees. This clause is only present in the statute of our Centre only and does not apply to other Faculties, Institutes or Centres. Thanks to such a legislation we have had older persons following the Postgraduate Course in our eleven year old history.

The fourth goal consists in fostering a cycle that is relevant to the labour market. The inconsistency of this aim vis-à-vis the needs and interests of a large majority of third agers is, I believe, quite self-evident. Of course there are many older persons who are still interested ? for various and sometimes conflicting reasons - in re-entering the labour market following retirement. Others may even be highly motivated to re-entering the labour market in a novel role. In no way can we remove such a possibility. However, many are not at all interested in entering in paid employment. Indeed, many third agers would have waited in anticipation for their retirement years. Consequently, we must make sure that the declaration also gives high priority to expressive educational concerns which may be far from utilitarian in a post-industrial market economy. We must never find ourselves in a situation where only instrumental courses of learning are given the green light or funded by funding agencies.

Rather, as Alexandra Withnall and Keith Percy (1996) affirm in their groundbreaking publication Good Practice in the Education and Training of Older Adults, education and training for older adults must embody a philosophy of a lifelong learning culture. The latter is centred around a much wider vision that the ëlifetime learningí concept which underpins the official framework of education and training for adults. This is because the latter are marked by a market-led vocationalism which is surely not a necessity in later life. Following my colleague and mentor, Kenneth Wain (1993), one also needs to point out that the relationship between ëlifelong learningí and ëlifelong educationí is still complex and lacks a clear conceptualisation. The way in which these two concepts should be interrelated are far from being apparent at this moment in time, and hence, this means that we are still unclear about the compatibility of ëlifelong learningí with other social and political philosophies, as well as its potential contribution to educational theory and research methodologies (Withnall and Percy, 1996).

A system of accumulation and transfer of credits is the Declarationís fifth goal. This smacks unabashedly of what is generally referred to as the "pervasiveness of schooling" since it denotes a top-down model of instruction which cultivates respect for authority, experts, and universal knowledge. There should be programmes that take the form of a corporation of persons devoted to a particular activity, as the medieval interpretation of the term 'university' implies, and be co-ordinated in a highly flexible ways and traits opposite to those found in traditional education. Not all older adults wish for rigid full-time attendance. Indeed, third agers may find it hard to take-up full time education because of other interests, commitments, or even physical problems.

In this respect I believe that the range of non-full time educational pursuits for older adults should be at the forefront of university programmes for third agers. These should preferably be in the form of broad repertoires ranging from short but intensive encounters and prolonged extensive activities. Here, we must make an extra effort so that third age university programmes escape the "pervasiveness of schooling" which is also found at the heart of adult education programmes. In other words, programmes should not consist of a top-down model of instruction which cultivates respect for authority, experts, and universal knowledge. In this context, reference has been made, time and time again, to the excellent illustrative material by Paul Willisí (1978) Learning to Labour. Although it does not focus on older learners it is easy to see that his insights will even be replicated in a third age scenario.

Third age university programmes must be conceived within the more progressive section of the educational literature, and consequently, venture being both schooling and its paradigmatic cast. This is possible if we apply Ivan Illichís (1978) advice regarding different alternatives to traditional schooling which function to deschool society without abandoning the quest of learning. My reading of Illichís manifesto means that the deschooling of third age university programmes embodies three principles. First, that third age education does not have to be age specific. Secondly, that third age programmes are not be teacher-centred but based on - in Paulo Freireís (1972) words - a ëteachers-students partnershipí. And third, in the spirit of flexibility and immediacy, they must spare those who partake of it the necessity to submit to an obligatory curriculum. This is because all curricula are generally contestable and negotiable, informally if not formally.

The sixth and final goal refers to the mobility of students, teachers, researchers, etc; From a third age point of view this is undoubtedly the goal which holds the greatest potential for older persons. Third agers are very interested, and I would say, adventurous in the educational quests. Indeed, that is my many third agers join an educational institution ? to get a new lease of life. However, here I have to mention a subaltern within older persons ? that is, persons who because of more advancing age, lower class standing, or sheer ill luck have a low health and financial status. Indeed, as Rick Swindell (2000) points out, a range of health-related factors prevents many older people from enjoying and benefiting from adult education activities. Apart from direct health related constraints however, there are other age-related factors that jeopardise social networks. For example, many older people give up driving and become isolated from activities because public transport is not readily available, or is difficult to use. Others, particularly women, may be thrust into the role of caregivers for ailing spouses or friends, or for grandchildren whose parents must work.

Therefore, whilst we should promote the notion of human mobility, we must not forget that older persons are a heterogeneous group of persons with diverse amounts of social, economic, cultural, and physical capital. Tackling such an issue, in Australia, there exists a programme called Isolated Bytes constituting of an experimental ëU3A without wallsí that utilises the Internet to provide cognitively challenging adult education programmes to isolated older people. The programme proved to be successful, thus suggesting that well-crafted adult education programmes delivered by the Internet have the potential to enrich the lives of isolated older people. Although the sample was small, the overall evaluation showed that participants benefited from the venture and most of them enjoyed interacting with like-minded strangers, via cyberspace. One participant even wrote: ëmany thanks to [this programmes] I have been able to enjoy what has turned out to be the most pleasurable weeks of my lifeí (Swindell, 1992, p. 260). This shows that despite its weaknesses of having to address a huge and heterogeneous audience, distance education has the potential to play a major role in housebound senior adultsí productivity, entertainment, socialisation, daily functions, and not least, emancipation. In this respect, I firmly believe that in later life we have to expand our notion of mobility to include also non-spatial mobility but which, nevertheless, still promotes an improvement of the learner's quality of life.
 

GOOD PRACTICE IN THIRD AGE UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES

Here, I believe, we have to pause, take stock of what has been, and focus on the other major question : What ought to be done? In replying to my own question I have formulated six principles which I believe are fundamental concepts in the setting and running of third age university programmes.

First, implemenenting policy and funding measures. Drawing on a number of small scale investigations with a range of respondents involved in the field of education and older people, Schuller and Bostyn (1992) emphasize the need of positive policies such as ensuring that every educational institution has an Older Learners Officer/Advisor, the elimination of age-barriers preventing access to education and/or training, grants for study, as well the coordination and support of national campaigns to promote learning in later life. At the same time, we must engage in a consistent look out for funding that will enable us to found third age university programmes.

Secondly, adequate and widespread information and guidance services. Third age educators must disseminate information on available programmes that is comprehensive, concise, and non-intimidating. If published, information should be written in a language that is simple, non-patronising, and devoid of jargon so as to attract the attention of subaltern groups. Preferably, leaflets should be of a pocket guide size, containing enlarged lettering, not printed on glossy paper, and in colour. Leaflets must be distributed in places where older persons generally frequent, such as churches, post offices, pharmacies, health clinics, day centres, and residential institutions. At the same time, it is also imperative that information is disseminated through as many times of communication networks as possible ? ranging from television, radio, newspapers, to community and church announcements ? as this increases the probability that information reaches various sectors of older persons.

Thirdly, employing the combination of humanist and critical ideological frameworks in the learning process, rather than favouring one over the other. This principle emerged following a reading of Alexandra Withnall (2000) in which she argued that :

Psychological evidence concerning the impact of ageing on health status, intellectual skills and lifestylesÖsuggests a sharper division between the fit and the active majority and the minority suffering acute or chronic illness whether mental physical or both. But to assume a heterogeneity among older people, uniformingly disadvantaged and committed to praxis is simply to impose a new kind of ideological constraint.                                                                                      Withnall, 2000, p. 93

Honestly, this article served me with an eye-opener in coming to terms that both humanist and critical styles have a central place in older adult education. A humanist position proposes an approach where increasing older learnersí self-fulfilment and potential become the ultimate aim of older adult education. In advocating such an approach, Keith Percy (1990, p. 236) argues that this type of learning should take the form of a personal quest where "learners begin from where they are; they follow the thrust of their own curiosities in order to make what is around them more meaningful; ideally they should be free of external constraints so that they can learn until they are satisfied, until they have achieved a potential that is within them". Learning, therefore, takes the form of an "individual encounter" where the educatorís role is to facilitate the process of learning for the older learners, and not necessary persuade him/her into action.

However, as already hinted, although the liberal-humanist approach to third age education holds an enormous potential to bridge education and learning in later life, nevertheless, I also believe that third age university programmes have also to embody a critical rationale. This is because only certain minorities of older persons are free of constraints, of worries and of imposed responsibilities. For many, especially lower class elders and older women, retirement brings about increasing financial and caring concerns. Moreover, not all older persons feel a natural yearning to know more, explore and understand cultural/artistic phenomena, but only those possessing bourgeois dispositions. A critical rational in third age university programmes would be premised on the need to aid older persons "gaining power over their livesÖand, above all, it should be an important mechanism for individual and group empowerment" (Glendenning & Battersby, 1990, pp. 220-1).

It is only so that such programmes will be able to act as a social movement that combats ageist misconceptions and policies, channelling a type of social change parallel to what the Danish High School Movement did for middle aged adults. However, this is only possible if programmes (i) develop an articulate critical understanding of the real social forces opposing and indifferent to older personsí interests, or an action plan containing practical steps that serve to confront such forces; (ii) incorporate a counter-hegemonical rationale through the presence of ëorganic intellectualsí so as to be able to confront the various forms of ageist discriminations through a leader who takes the role of a constructor, organiser, ëpermanent persuaderí and not just a simple oratorí; and finally, (iii) by seeking contact with subaltern older persons who are evidently more socially marginalized that others.

Fourthly, it is my opinion that third age university programmes need to go beyond pedagogical and andragogical methods - synonymous to what Paulo Freire (1972) deems as ëbanking educationí - and embrace a critical gerogogical approach towards teaching and learning. Critical gerogogy contains many similarities with Freireís ëliberatory educationí, and is defined as "a liberating and transforming notion which endorses principles of collectively and dialogue central to learning and teaching" (Battersby, 1987, p. 7). Hence, gerogogy, "provides older persons with opportunities for a self-conscious critique of their life and experiencesÖ..that promote critical reflection and action" (Battersby & Glendenning, 1992, p. 120). It assumes the status, not of an imposed set of prescriptive guidelines and strategies, but as a concept which conceptualises teaching and learning as a collective and negotiated enterprise amongst older adults. Therefore, as I have discussed elsewhere (Formosa, 2002), this means that university programmes for older persons should
(i) be directed by a political rationale that highlights its commitment to the transformation of ageist social structures;
(ii) incorporate a communal approach towards the transformation of the ageist world;
(iii) refuse the myth that any type of education empowers older persons;
(iv) not be confined within the walls of the older adult educational program but expand out to all distinct segments of older persons;
(v) embrace a self-help culture towards a more decentralised and autonomous older adult education as power is shifted to older learners; and finally
(vi) enable learners to take the role of a ëprogressiveí movement by engaging in counter-hegemonic activities.

Finally, programmes have to take stock of the fact that the great majority of older learners are women. Whilst it is welcoming to note that over the past decade, social gerontologists have begun to apply feminist perspectives to comprehend better the lives of older women, it is lamentable to note that whilst educational gerontology is devoid of a feminist discourse, at the same time feminist adult education is oblivious to older women. To set justice to such an imbalance, I believe that we must provide affirmative action towards older women and make sure that the third age programmes
(i) are be directed by a rational that acknowledges older women as an oppressed population due to the ëdouble standard of agingí;
(ii) acknowledge that the subaltern position of older women is also the result of lifelong cumulative disadvantages;
(iii) reject that there is a universalised singular identity among women and emphasises a ëpolitics of differenceí;
(iv) abandon traditional strategies of learning and teaching and embrace a feminist praxis in both gerogogical and research activities; and finally
(v) drive towards the empowerment of older women in a distinct but collective effort.
 

CONCLUDING COMMENTS : A LOOK TO THE FUTURE

The purpose of this paper was to raise awareness on third age university programmes. Without doubt, we need more research on the area of older adult education. Unfortunately, not many students, research fellows, and non-governmental agencies choose tackle seriously the interrelation between the latter part of the life course and educational provision. Despite this, however, I believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel if we focus our energies on three basic issues. First, increasing the number of third age university programmes. Secondly, working to increase the number of third agers enrolled in university programmes. And finally, coordinating styles of educational programmes that are attuned to the way in which third agers classify and comprehend education and learning, the value that they put on the latter two concepts, and the distinct ways in which third agers learn and educate themselves.

Following in the footsteps of Shiela Carlton and Jim Soulsby (1999), I believe that this is possible if university programmes for the third age

Finally, I feel that I have to communicate that all the ideas presented herein are not intended to be a didactic manual to be adopted in a non-critical fashion but should always be characterized by a critical flexibility. They have only been presented as a cluster of themes inspired by humanist and emancipatory intents.

I hope that this presentation provided some food for thought and I welcome as well as look forward to any critical remarks. Thank you for your attention.
 

References

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