"Here, more and more things are being learned!" (Focus on Universities for the Elderly (3))

Core reading

In order to expand the supply of education resources for the elderly, all parties have launched a series of measures: the development of gerontology disciplines, the establishment of training bases for elderly service personnel, and the improvement of the level of teachers in the university for the elderly; the construction of learning platforms, the development of high-quality online and offline courses; the guidance of social forces to participate, support multi-subject schools, and provide diversified learning opportunities for the elderly. Universities for the elderly are running more and more and are getting better and better, so that the elderly can learn and enjoy their old age.

Construction of characteristic disciplines

Training of specialized teachers

"After studying several mobile phone network courses, I finally mastered the knowledge of mobile payment. If you want to buy something later, open the phone and finish it at a little, which is very convenient! "Uncle Lin, who often browses the online courses of Guangdong Open University, said that the times are changing rapidly, and the elderly are eager to keep up with the times and learn more knowledge, and the learning platform provided by Guangdong Open University has helped them a lot." The content of the course is in line with the thinking habits of the elderly, and there will be professional teachers who will patiently answer, and there is no need to worry about learning. Uncle Lin said.

With the deepening of the aging of the population, the demand for education for the elderly is becoming increasingly strong, and the problems of tight university degrees for the elderly and the shortage of elderly education practitioners have also received more and more attention.

"Education for the elderly has its own unique place, it is more focused on life education. The elderly hope to learn something that is closely related to life, help solve practical problems, or cultivate hobbies. Wang Jiangen, a professor at Guangdong Open University, said: "There was an old man who wanted to apply for a calligraphy class at the University of the Elderly for a long time, but he did not succeed for a long time, and even his birthday wish was to successfully enroll. ”

Guangdong Open University integrates the strength of the whole university, based on the Health Industry College, breaks down the barriers of traditional disciplines, takes the construction of characteristic disciplines as the main line, gives full play to the advantages of information technology, innovates institutional mechanisms, promotes the integration of resources of 7 colleges and departments, and brings together discipline construction, professional construction, talent training, scientific research, social services, education services for the elderly, science popularization, etc. as one, and runs a university at the doorstep of the elderly.

Liu Wenqing, president of Guangdong Open University, said: "Vigorously develop the discipline of gerontology, strengthen practical research, improve the level of theoretical development of elderly education, and integrate the elderly education with the cultivation of elderly service talents and the development of aging undertakings." ”

In order to better develop the discipline of gerontology, the school invites well-known research experts at home and abroad to form a "gerontology expert advisory group" to provide expert support, technical services, decision-making references and research on difficult topics.

Liu Wenqing said: "The size of the elderly education teacher team does not match the size of the elderly population, and there is a general situation where the teaching force is weak and the degree of part-time teaching is high. In order to enhance the strength of teachers, Guangdong Open University and famous universities at home and abroad have jointly built a "postgraduate joint training base" and jointly trained postgraduate students in gerontology with cooperative universities. In addition, the school has also established a training base for elderly care service personnel, and with the help of a university covering the elderly covering the whole province, it has cooperated with enterprises, social work institutions and other organizations to establish a training base for old-age service personnel, and conduct special training for the teaching team. In recent years, Guangdong Open University has trained nearly 10,000 relevant professionals and is currently building the first national smart health care demonstration base in Guangdong Province.

Pool high-quality resources

Build an online platform

Liu Shuqin, a 62-year-old student, is a student of the National Open University for the Elderly. After taking a freehand flower and bird class, she signed up for a calligraphy class. "When I came to the university for the elderly, I didn't want to leave as soon as I studied. Here, learn more and more! She said.

Another student, Kang Jianmin, often watches the live lectures of the National Open University for the Elderly online, "The course can be played back and can be learned anytime and anywhere, this learning method is very suitable for me!" ”

At the National Open University for the Elderly, there are many elderly people who love to learn. Liu Chen, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the National Open University and president of the University for the Elderly, introduced that the National Open University formally established the University for the Elderly in 2015, and has initially built a system for the education of the elderly, established a provincial open university or specialized institution for the elderly in 30 branches, and set up more than 40,000 learning points for the elderly education at the grass-roots level. The number of registered users on the online platform totaled more than 6.3 million, and a total of 100,000 classes were held offline, with more than 5.73 million students. The nationwide education network for the elderly has laid a solid foundation for expanding the coverage of education for the elderly.

"The National Open University has built a multi-terminal learning platform, laying a good foundation for the overall construction and upgrading of the national education resource sharing and public service platform for the elderly." Liu Chen introduced that in the future, new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud computing, and blockchain will be used to provide online resources for universities for the elderly and various educational institutions for the elderly, and to provide personalized, convenient, and full-process learning support services for elderly learners.

Rich high-quality resources lay an important foundation for effectively expanding the supply of education resources for the elderly. At present, the National Open University for the Elderly has gathered nine categories of 380,000 minutes of high-quality digital learning resources suitable for the elderly to learn, compiled the "Catalogue of Elderly Education Resources", integrated more than 400 thematic courses, and designed and developed a variety of high-quality offline courses, and also planned the education of the elderly.

Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee of the National Open University, said that the National Open University will make good use of the advantages of all aspects, stimulate more potential, continuously optimize the institutional mechanism, expand the coverage of education for the elderly, expand the supply of education resources for the elderly, and strive to achieve high-quality development of education for the elderly.

"The future National University for the Elderly is both a physical institution and a systematic organization. The National University for the Elderly will become a knowledge academy, a paradise for the elderly, a spiritual home, a leader in the mainland's lifelong learning education system for the elderly, a national team in the lifelong learning system for the elderly, and an important window for international education exchanges on the elderly. Jing Degang said.

Social forces run schools

A variety of options are available

With the continuous growth of the elderly population in the mainland and the rapid development of education for the elderly, the demand for education for the elderly is becoming more and more vigorous, and the trend of extending schools for the elderly to the grass-roots level is becoming increasingly apparent. In the context of the imbalance between supply and demand, the call for supporting the introduction of social forces to establish education for the elderly is getting louder and louder. Not long ago, the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Strengthening the Work of The Elderly in the New Era" clearly pointed out that social forces should be supported to hold universities (schools) for the elderly and promote the expansion of the supply of educational resources for the elderly.

In recent years, under the active encouragement, support and guidance of the state, local government departments have actively promoted the intervention of various types of public education institutions, enterprises and institutions, social organizations and private capital at all levels in the education of the elderly, which has become a new model of education for the elderly in mainland communities, and has increasingly shown vigor and vitality. There are more and more universities for the elderly of various natures, such as public and private assistance, private office assistance, and social organization. The rapid rise of new community-oriented educational institutions for the elderly has brought new concepts, new forms and new vitality to the development of elderly education, and formed a diversified way of running schools.

In Changsha, Hunan Province, a "community-embedded" university for the elderly founded by state-owned enterprises and institutions, Happy Old People University, attracted many students to sign up. According to reports, all the campuses of the school are located in the community, the implementation of chain, branding, standardized operation, to create a cultural pension brand, welcomed by the elderly, now the physical campus training students reached more than 20,000 people.

Carry out household teaching for the disabled elderly, open a "wheelchair classroom" for the semi-disabled elderly, and open outdoor teaching, health travel and other course models such as "shade classroom" and "sunshine classroom" for healthy elderly... In recent years, with the rapid development of private old-age service institutions, the integration model of education and education set up study classes and learning courses by old-age institutions has become popular, providing a more diversified and more distinctive choice for elderly education.

"The participation of social forces in community education for the elderly is an important channel for increasing investment in education for the elderly, improving the conditions for running schools, enriching the content and form of teaching, and expanding the beneficiary population." Diao Haifeng, executive vice president of the China Association of Universities for the Aged, said that we should explore and study multi-channel, multi-form, multi-subject schools, adhere to the combination of government leadership and social participation, while increasing government support, give more play to the strength of enterprises and institutions, social organizations, and grass-roots communities, integrate resources, form a joint force, and coordinate development.

"The development of education for the elderly should be eclectic, give more play to the role of the market and social forces, and hold multi-level, multi-form schools for the elderly that meet the diversified learning and education needs of the elderly." Wu Yushao, deputy director of the National Office on Aging, said that it is recommended to give play to the role of multiple subjects, form a joint force, integrate elderly education into the life scene of the community, and improve the coverage and accessibility of elderly education through embedded and integrated elderly education. (Reporters Jiang Xiaodan, Wu Yue, Li Changyu)

People's Daily (2022-01-20, 13th edition)

(People's Daily)