THE ACTIVITY OF THE THIRD AGE UNIVERSITIES IN FRENCE AND GREAT BRITAIN: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The urgency of studying the experience of educational institutions for the elderly is due to the fact that in the vast majority of countries of the modern world there is a tendency to increase the number of elderly people. If in 1950, only 8% of the total population of the planet were people aged 60 years and older, then in 2009 their number increased to 11%. It is expected that in 2050 the proportion of people of this age will be 22-25%. Therefore, before the world community, the task of ensuring an adequate level of quality of life and creating favorable conditions for optimizing the vital activity of life and self-realization of the elderly is a matter of urgency. An effective way of solving this problem in international practice is recognition of the establishment of educational institutions for a given category of citizens. The article attempts to characterize the activities of educational institutions for people of the third age in France and the United Kingdom, because in these two countries the conceptual approaches to the implementation of education for the people of the third age were substantiated and embodied in practice, which gave rise to the two most widespread in the world practice Models of the functioning of universities of the third age: French and British. It is found that universities of the third age in France and the UK function as institutions of educational, cognitive, socio-cultural and educational-leisure-oriented orientation. Their activities are subordinated to the goal of raising the general level of education of the society, encouraging people of the elderly to comprehend life experience, mastering new knowledge, forming new or improving existing skills, communication and joint leisure activities. The article attempts to reveal the essence of the French model of the functioning of educational institutions for people of the third age, which is based on the concept of close interconnection of third-year universities with local higher education institutions (universities, colleges) and adherence to high standards of education. Characterized features of the practice of universities of the third age in France that are caused by different approaches to their opening, financing, development of educational programs, organization of educational process, provision of resources and teachers. It is characterized features of the British model of the functioning of the third-year university in the UK, the dominant concept of which is the organization and functioning of universities for community members of the third age on the basis of self-organization, self-financing, the subjective position of each member of the university in the organization of educational process, assistance in providing the university with resources, mutual assistance And mutual support in teaching, participation of university members in the choice of content and forms of study. The article attempts to carry out a comparative analysis of the activities of third-generation universities in France and the United Kingdom on the basis of a retrospective analysis of the peculiarities of their formation, the purpose and the guiding principles of their activities, differences in relations with traditional universities and colleges, with local and state authorities and attitudes towards standards Education for people of the third age. In the course of preparation of the article, theoretical methods related to the study of scientific literature, the results of researches of foreign researchers, documents, materials of periodicals on the activities of third-generation universities, as well as the method of generalization, comparison, and comprehension of information about the activities of universities of the third age, obtained for using other methods.