Never too old to learn: senior colleges a rage
Print Edition
Wanna feel young when your grandchildren are already in kindergarten? How about enrolling in a college that teaches you how to be a youngster?
Attending 鈥渆lderly college鈥 is in vogue at the moment in fast-aging China 鈥 just take a look at one institution in central Hunan Province, whose classes on ballroom dance, yoga and how to take a selfie using smartphones are luring legions of retirees.
At Happy Seniors University, youngsters become teachers while seniors become inquisitive students. At the same age as their teachers鈥 parents, the elderly students are eager to learn anything that can help them live like teens and 20-somethings.
Some have to start from the very basics. Xin Yu, a teacher with Happy Seniors, said the university鈥檚 smartphone course teaches students how to text and download apps before proceeding to more advanced content like shopping online and taking photos. 鈥淲e found that many old people have the most advanced iPhones but only know how to make phone calls. They can鈥檛 even send messages or take photos that are not blurry,鈥 she said.
More ambitious learners can opt for courses like catwalks and Latin dance. There is even a class that teaches senior tourists how to communicate in English when traveling abroad.
Huge market
Liu Jianjian, headmaster of Happy Seniors, said since opening in 2016, more than 10,000 senior students have attended classes at their 41 branches across the province. Booming demand is now feeding their ambition to expand to other provinces.
China has around 60,000 elderly education institutions, according to the China Association of Universities for the Aged. Apart from those funded by governments, privately-run institutions like Happy Seniors are also cropping up, suggesting there is a huge market for elderly education yet to be saturated.
And they are expecting a bigger boost, as China鈥檚 2016-2020 development plan for elderly education has called on every city to have at least one university for senior citizens, and for 50 percent of towns and 30 percent of villages to have schools or learning centers for the elderly by the end of the decade.
Behind the later-life learning fever is a quickly aging society. China鈥檚 population aged over 60 reached 241 million at the end of 2017, and the number is expected to peak at 487 million around 2050, or a third of the total population.
Though a significant number of retirees manage to keep their life busy by taking care of their grandchildren, many others are left idle in their 鈥渆mpty nests鈥 as their children flock to other cities to seek better-paying jobs.
How to spend their spare time has become not only a family matter, but also a societal matter. In recent years, mahjong rooms in the name of 鈥渃ommunity centers for the aged鈥 have sprung up in droves, city squares and parks have been invaded by 鈥渘anny dancers,鈥 and neighboring countries like Thailand and Japan have been seeing more gray-haired Chinese tourists arriving.
Zhao Baoquan, director of Happy Maturity, a Hunan-based newspaper for elderly readers, said the good news is that most of China鈥檚 鈥渆mpty nesters鈥 are not feeling lonely, as they are actively seeking socialization.
The raging popularity of educational institutions also suggests an increase in healthy, energetic and educated Chinese seniors, thanks to rising prosperity and medical advances, said Liu Hongchen, an expert on seniors at the China Volunteers Association.
鈥淭he elderly universities also meet seniors鈥 great psychological and social needs. They don鈥檛 want to be marginalized and want to prove their worthiness by joining the classes,鈥 he said.
Feng Guangqian agrees. An active student in four music classes at Happy Seniors, Feng said after retirement, he and his wife constantly felt the urge to learn something other than 鈥渢heir grandchildren鈥檚 study.鈥
鈥淲e care more about the process than the results. Studying makes us feel much younger,鈥 said Feng, 68.
Li Danyang, the Latin dance teacher at Happy Seniors, admits that most of her students are good learners. 鈥淥ld people study hard in class and practice a lot out of class,鈥 she said.
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