AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
UNIVERSITIES OF THE THIRD AGE AS A CHANCE FOR SENIORS TO INTEGRATE INTO THE
MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY
a
ŽANETA BALÁŽOVÁ
Technical University in Zvolen, T.G.Masaryka 24, 960 01
Zvolen, Slovak Republic
email:
a
zaneta
.
balazova@tuzvo.sk
Grant: 010TU Z-4/2017 (Cultural and Educational Grant Agency of the Ministry of
Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic) Name of the Grant:
Developing the Reading Competency and Teaching Technical Foreign Languages at
Technical Universities
Abstract: International cooperation, visiting new countries, meeting new people from
all over the world are typical features of these days. The Universities of the Third Age
as institutions focused on senior education and their opportunities to help people of
older age familiarize with new cultures, it means to integrate into the multicultural
society are presented in the paper. The European Union, especially the Erasmus+
program offers chances to students of all ages as well as seniors to enhance the
knowledge and skills abroad, to make friends and to improve communication skills in
English language.
Keywords: senior, University of the Third Age, ERASMUS+ program, culture,
international project
1 Introduction
At the present time, everything that people do, speak or think
about, i.e. extensive set of phenomena including knowledge,
language, ethics, law, art, culture, education and action,
everything used by people to find direction in the world and at
the same time, to create the world can be understood as culture.
Human perception and understanding is mediated by culture or
various cultures. What is perceived as beautiful, tasty, true is
determined by members of other cultures differently, within the
context of the culture they grew up. A socio-cultural system
consists of dominant culture, subcultures (set of specific features
of a culture typical for social groups in specific society), and
contra cultures (holding values opposite the dominant culture) as
well as art, folk and mass culture (Petrusek, 2002. p. 36).
Coexistence of different cultures able to develop and enrich
mutually is a key feature of full-blown Europe, thus the
multicultural principles in education must be followed.
Development of the ability to tolerate other cultures, or respect
the existence of other cultures means the ability to look at the
world through the eyes of other cultures or to respect
heterogeneity (Zelenická, 2006, p. 267). Process of globalization
and entry to the European Union provide the opportunity for
meeting members of various cultures. Respecting cultural and
language heterogeneity is an essential principle of running the
EU successfully. It is closely connected with foreign language
acquisition – trend leading to the tolerance of otherness.
2 Senior as a target group of education
An increase in the number of older people in population is one of
the impacts of demographic ageing. The term of senior is used to
determine this group of people by Rychtaříková (2002, p. 45).
This term is frequently used not only in demography but also in
other scientific branches (e.g. is sociology, education or
economics) to define a person at older age. There are various
definitions of a senior in literature. According to Jarošová (2006,
p. 21), senior is a person with physical, mental and social
changes due to the process of ageing. Čornaničová (2007, p. 52)
prefers the opinion that the meaning of a term of a senior is
neutral. She also mentions that this term covers and replaces
definitions in other branches to define an older person. In other
scientific branches, there are still preferred terms such as a
geront in gerontology or senescent in psychology (Balogová,
2009). However, both terms used in everyday situations can
evoke a person who is old, ill or dependent. In this case, it can be
understood improperly or in wrong way. The term retiree or
pensioner is associated with social status and with receiving an
old age pension.
Boundary line to determine this group of people is not set
clearly. People over the age of 65 are considered seniors – older
people by the United Nations. In the 1960s, experts of the World
Health Organisation made a suggestion to divide middle and old
age into following categories:
middle age 45 – 59 years,
early old age or young-old age 60-74 years (presenium)
old - oldest old age, senior age 75-89 years (senium),
longevity 90 years and more.
Čornaničová (in Balogová, 2009) prefers to use the term of
seniors in the case of people 60+ and also the term senium for
the stage of life connected with the mentioned age. At the same
time, the heterogeneity of the group of older people is
highlighted and older people are divided into the categories:
older person – at the age of 60 to 74, they are considered
younger seniors,
old person – at the age of 75 – 89, they are considered
older seniors,
long-lived person – at the age of 90 and more, they are
considered very old seniors.
Economic activity must be taken into consideration when the
boundary line is determined. Until recently, the post-productive
age of men and women was not the same – in Slovakia, it was 60
or 55 and more. This limitation is the most often used boundary
limit of seniority (Vohráliková, Rabušic, 2004). Differences in
terminology in society and various laws results also from the
different purposes. Therefore, the approach to various issues
focused on older people is not uniform. On the other hand,
diversity in the social relations of older people, their roles and
statuses is pointed out this way. They cannot be perceived as a
homogenous group primarily determined by the age. The term
senior started to be used in education spontaneously as a term
with neutral meaning. Ageing and an old age are important
stages of an individual and they are a natural part of life.
3 System of senior education
The activity “to want, know and can” direct the personality to
self-development is considered an important phenomenon in
today’s society. According to Barták (2007, p. 16), to want – it
can be understood as personal willingness, energizing presented
by development of human potential aimed at person’s individual
as well as team goals. To know – it means the knowledge, what
to do, why to do, abilities and skills how to do it as well as
experience. To can – it is a category relating to subject as well as
object. It depends not only on the subject – persons themselves
but especially on the environment where persons can/cannot use
their ambitions, needs, interests and the potential.
Adult education is a lifelong process allowing people to keep up
with changes in economy, culture and social life. The art of
learning is considered a set of skills enhanced by people through
their lives (Vacinová, 2013, p. 106). The Universities of the
Third Age present the environment where seniors are able to
meet their needs, interests and develop their human potential not
only through education as their main activity but also through
international activities allowing the seniors – older people to
integrate into multicultural Europe. Education is not connected
with future job but with personal development in the society of
other people (Beneš, 2009, p. 26).
Variety of senior formal and informal education provided in the
Slovak Republic is quite wide. The focus and the level of
formality of individual institutions differ from each other a bit.
Universities and Academies of the Third Age are the most
popular institutions among seniors. However, other educational
activities and programmes offered to seniors not only by these
institutions must be mentioned as well.
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