This article appeared in the Summer, 2005 issue of U3A News. LLIs
may find this overview of the U3A movement in the UK interesting.
The recent U3A conference in Exeter left no doubt that U3A members are
determined to have the UK movement represented at the international level
in what is a worldwide federation of older people involved in continuing
learning of all kinds.
U3A means different things to different people – with some 150,000
members that’s hardly surprising. For some, the local interest group
– walking, French, bridge, music – is what U3A is all about.
Many others combine these activities with participation in the monthly
meetings, group leadership or committee work. Then there are those for
whom no year is complete without joining in at a summer school or the
annual conference.
The ripples of U3A activity encompass regional groups for study days
or other joint activities with local U3As. At national and increasingly
international level, U3A members are making their presence felt.
Did you know, for instance, that there are four of our own member U3As
operating outside the UK? In Spain on the Costa de sol at Fuengirola and
Marbella and on the Costa Brava, and in Cyprus, expatriates and colleagues
of other nationalities join in English-speaking U3A activities. A UK model
U3A is also organized by the University in Malta.
Contrary to popular mythology about the older generation and technology,
U3A is well represented in the “wired” world of international
communications. For many years, Peter Sinclair of Harrow U3A has maintained
an extensive list of U3A web sites across the world, a source of information
which I was able to pass to the president of the world federation, AIUTA,
only recently.
At the recent AIUTA world congress in Shanghai, the UK U3A was much in
evidence with a presentation of our model of learning being made by the
chair of the Standing Committee for Education, Shirley Thew. Another international
body, Third Age Learning International Studies (TALIS) has also benefited
from U3A input with an invitation to a long-standing member of both organizations,
Jean Thompson to contribute to a joint U3A-TALIS session.
The Canadian presidents of both TALIS and AIUTA, John Oussoren and Jean-Louis
Levesque, had read the international U3A reports on our web site and were
specially interested in Jean’s My U3A and World without Fear
projects in partnership with a U3A in Russia.
Taking up where Phyllis Babb recently left off, Ian Searle is coordinating
a number on on-line courses designed and tutored by UK U3A members and
colleagues from Australia. In addition, a small but potentially significant
project is off the ground to provide a “virtual” U3A for housebound
or isolated colleagues.
So enthusiastic for international contact were members of a conference
discussion group last summer that they have set up a web site specifically
intended to favor such interchange between U3A members across frontiers.
The http://worldu3a.org web site has
already provided a home for several projects which have enabled exchange
of experiences and views. The World Without Fear project, for
example, which originated in Siberia, has brought about moving testimonies
and lively discussion.
In previous issues you will have read of the important contribution the
UK U3A is making to a European Community project designed to help introduce
older learners to Information and Communications Technology. The eL.Se
Project has major input from a UK team including Elaine and Mike
Williams, Paul Baron and Len Street.
In the midst of all this 21st century activity, the more traditional
approach to international contact has not been forgotten. Town twinning
and individual enterprise have enabled groups from various U3As to exchange
and come into personal contact with their counterparts abroad. Interest
groups involved in language learning or in musical activities have been
particularly active in this field.
At the national level., thanks particularly to Roger Cloet, Jean Thompson,
Tom Holloway and Shirley Thew, the Third Age Trust – the national
“umbrella” organization of UK U3As – has maintained
and enhanced its involvement with AIUTA and helped to shape the way in
which it takes account of different models of “older” learning.
Many questions are thrown up by these various international activities.
What are the benefits? What cost in involved and can it be justified?
Are there better alternatives? The National Executive is considering all
these matters, but ultimately their decisions, hopefully endorsed by the
membership, will take into account the fact that an organization such
as ours has much to contribute to and gain from international involvement.
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