Sharing knowledge in the Third Age

In spite of these setbacks, the U3A somehow is able to function both efficiently and effectively, the resilience of organisers plain to see. "It is very interesting how professional we are in the way we run things. We run on a shoestring (budget) but there is no need to have a great budget as we’re all volunteers’" Alison informs me, brushing aside the morning’s setback without a moment’s thought.

So what is the Third Age and what function does the U3A aim to perform? Principally, The U3A describes the Third Age as the age of active retirement (the First Age being childhood and the Second Age encompassing employment and/or parental responsibility).

The U3A is a "learning cooperative of older people which encourages healthy ageing by enabling members to share many educational, creative and leisure activities. A U3A is a university in the original sense of the word: a community of people devoted to learning and its members are in the Third Age."

However, the most significant difference to other universities is the U3A egalitarian approach, with the only prerequisite for membership is that you are in your third age - no educational qualifications are required or given.

While each U3A centre operates autonomously, collectively they share the same vision: to provide a program of educational and recreational activities, developed from the interests of its members and the resources of its community. And beyond the learning, the centres also provide members with a vital social experience.

The origins of the U3A came from a summer school conducted at the University of Toulouse in France in 1972. According to the U3A website "the Australian initiative came from a group of four people, working professionally in either adult education or organisations concerned with the welfare of the aged, who met and discovered that they had each developed an interest in the U3A concept and had been following its growth, both through international literature and occasional contacts at overseas conferences.

"They decided to see if the idea would successfully transplant to the Australian environment. A public meeting, arranged with quite modest publicity, was held in July, 1984. That was sufficiently encouraging for the first Australian U3A to be established, with support from the Council of Adult Education, which found space for this ‘City of Melbourne U3A’ in its Flinders Street headquarters."

Alison was there from the beginning, starting out as a student taking a Current Affairs class in 1985 at Monash U3A. By 1988 she had become a delegate of the Victorian Network, later moving on to become Assistant Secretary to the Network and President, then ex-officio. She retired from the executive two years ago but is still actively involved as a tutor at the Kingston U3A.

"My background is like that of many women born in the 20s, you just got married, you either stayed married and had a family and that was it or we went out to work straight away. There was no thought of education. There were only very few (women) who ever thought of going on to university. So the fact that U3A offered the opportunity to delve into things that you never thought you’d be able to take on, languages, philosophy and history, all those sorts of things, it’s a real joy".

The U3A concept has been such a success that the Victorian Network currently comprises more than 18,000 members spread over 66 centres.

Most interestingly, the U3A movement has grown so rapidly through a ‘ground up’ approach.

While in the UK, they take what is called a ‘missionary approach’, that is, looking at a map and deciding where appropriate places to start a U3A may be, in Victoria (and Australia) centres have sprouted from individuals or groups contacting the network and asking how they can start a U3A in their area. From there they are issued with a starter kit to help get them on their way.

Alison enthuses that "the fact that we have been growing so rapidly, right from the beginning, shows that there is a need out there in the community".

Alison’s passion and interest in the U3A is obvious. She speaks glowingly about the organisation’s growth, philosophies and classes, and when asked questions about her role, modestly brings things back to what the U3A does. Having left school at the age of 14, Alison went to university in her forties and then went on to do teaching, and has maintained that interest through conducting several classes at her local U3A. She is typical of the volunteers who have helped make the U3A what it is, selflessly giving their time to help create and promote a network of like-minded individuals.

"Years ago, you’d say I belong to U3A and people would say ‘is that a new religion?’ and you’d explain or people would say ‘3UA’. But now we’re finding that more and more people know about U3A and governments are beginning to realise that we are an organisation that caters for a large section of the community.

"(With an) ageing population, they look at the demographics. I feel that the argument that we’re a burden on the community is quite wrong. Most of us have an income and we spend and we’re contributing to the economy."

And the health benefits of keeping the mind active are also immeasurable, a major advantage to the participants, but also of great benefit to the wider community through reduced welfare and health costs.

Alison has many stories of students who get sick in November, December (the time classes go into summer hiatus) and then get well again in February (when classes recommence).

"If we’re busy, interested and socially involved, then you don’t get the isolation and depression that can follow that. Medical research is indicating ‘use it or lose it’ and now, they’re finding that one physical activity (a day) without the mental activity is not really working. "You need both, you need the brain to be stimulated and working, you need the brain to be used as much as the body to be used. The (benefits of) physical and mental activity is now being (medically) supported. It’s to everyone’s advantage to keep us in the third age for as long as we can so we don’t go into the fourth age, which is the age of dependance," Alison said.

While governments are beginning to realise this, U3As still receive nominal government (through the Adult, Community and Further Education Board of Victoria - ACFE) or council assistance and centres survive mainly on the energies of their volunteers and the funds from membership fees, which range from $25 to $50 per annum, depending on the size of the centre. Those fees give members access to as many classes as they wish.

Classes are determined by the membership with the U3A charter stating that the "U3A members organise their own activities by drawing on the skills of one another. Like-minded members from all walks of life are encouraged to form study groups and share their knowledge with fellow members, all on a voluntary basis. U3As all over Victoria share the same philosophy but each is autonomous and develops its own character.

"Each U3A’s program of educational and recreational activities develops from the interest of its members and the resources of its community."

Basically, a member suggests a class, and if there is enough interest, it becomes part of the curriculum. "In my own case I’ve got an interest in the development of the English language, where did it come from and so forth. It’s not an academic interest at all, but I love it and I do a lot of reading in it and so then I say I can take a class for four to six weeks on the history of the English language. From there it goes into the newsletter," Alison said.

Bob Thorn is another of the U3A’s enthusiastic volunteers. Bob has tutored at the Kingston centre for the past five years, is a past president and is a member of the current committee. Having utilised the internet to trace back his family origins, Bob decided that he wanted to impart what he had learnt to others with a similar interest and created a class which offered students a mixture of genealogy theory and internet research practicalities. Bob is typical of the volunteer tutors who make the U3A what it is. "I joined the U3A when I retired. So a combination of personal interest and enjoying a group of people with a similar interest is what triggered it off.

"And I think my approach to it is probably like every other tutor here, I have an interest in this, I like being with people who have a similar interest and if I was to ask any tutor in the U3A what their key decisions were in doing what they’re doing, they would be precisely that," he said.

The most gratifying aspect, Bob told me, was "(to see) a lady of 80 who wishes to research genealogy, buying a computer at her age and learning how to use it to participate in her hobby".

While Bob’s class attracts an equal mix of men and women, one of the U3A’s concerns has been a membership which has traditionally comprised more women than men.

It was an issue that was raised at the recently held U3A conference, which was conducted as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Network.

Alison has her own theory on this. "I feel that within my age group, women stayed home and men went to work and when U3A started, this was an opportunity for women to come out and do the things they never had the opportunity to do and men said ‘I’ve been going out all my life, all I want to do is stay at home in my shed.’"

However, this is starting to change, Like any dynamic organisation, the U3A and its centres are reevaulating the classes offered and computer, gardening and astronomy classes for example, are attracting more men.

While addressing the gender balance of the membership is an important issue, perhaps a greater challenge facing the U3A is how to attract the baby boomers, the next generation of retirees.

With education having been a larger part of their lives, the question is, will they still want to be active participants in the learning process when they reach their third age? And if they decide to heed the words (and deeds) of Prime Minister John Howard and continue to work until they are 70 or even 75, will U3A still be viable heading into the future?

"There are questions that we need to be aware of so that we don’t remain static, that we move so that we try to cope with the needs of the coming generation," Alison said.
Centres are already tackling this issue by constantly evaluating their classes, making sure they remain fresh.

Certainly one suspects that if the next batch of decision makers display the same enthusiasm that people such as Alison and Bob have in the past 20 years, U3A will continue to thrive well into the future.