Concluding remarks and future prospects

Abstract

This final chapter provides an opportunity to reflect on the significance of the travails of the University of the Third Age (U3A) movement which, since its modest inception in 1973, has certainly exceeded all expectations. It does not strive to tie loose ends in a steadfast manner. Rather, the chapter serves as a beacon for stimulating further theoretical and empirical research on third age learning and the U3A in particular, by tracing the similarities and divergences of U3As across European and Asian- Pacific contexts; the benefits of participation in U3As on learners’ quality of life; and their social and psychological well-being. However, this chapter also points out that the U3A’s track record in the democratisation of late-life learning—especially in terms of social class, gender, disability and ethnic biases—leaves much room for improvement, to the extent that one can conclude that many U3As are reinforcing a degree of inequality amongst older persons in general but especially amongst the most vulnerable sectors of the ageing population. The chapter’s final section highlights the need for the U3A movement to renew itself so as to remain relevant to incoming groups of older persons whose generational habitus is certainly distinct from that of preceding cohorts—to whom the U3As are generally targeted—by including a number of policy recommendations for the future.