Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run \u201cby pensioners for pensioners\u201d amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions.<\/p>\n
Senioruniversitet, a national university that collaborates with Sweden\u2019s adult education institution Folkuniversitetet, has about 30 independent branches around the country which run study circles, lecture series and university courses in subjects including languages, politics, medicine and architecture.<\/p>\n
The Stockholm branch, which is Sweden\u2019s largest, has become so popular since it was founded in 1991 that it is now run across multiple venues across the capital by about 100 volunteers. Its most popular event, the Tuesday lectures, gets about 1,000 people each week.<\/p>\n
Recent Stockholm lectures have included \u201cThe art of awarding Nobel prizes\u201d by a former member of a Nobel committee, \u201cDisinformation and AI \u2013 the threat we invented ourselves\u201d and \u201cFrom soap to cultural heritage\/canon and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inga Sanner, chair of Senioruniversitetet in Stockholm, said membership nationally was at an all-time high. \u201cWe had a dip during the pandemic, of course, but we have come up again to the same number and increased even more. Our membership is the highest ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023 there were 2,099 events held across Sweden attended by 161,932 participants, according to Folkuniversitetet. This year, that number is projected to increase to 177,024 participants across 2,391 events.<\/p>\n
Gunnar Danielsson, secretary general of Folkuniversitetet, said: \u201cThe desire to learn for pleasure\u2019s sake, or for the sake of learning as such, is a joy to experience in a society which is increasingly obsessed with learning and education as preparation for work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The increasing popularity of Senioruniversitetet was not reflected by the level of government funding, though, he said, which had \u201csignificantly decreased\u201d over the past few years. \u201cMore likely it reflects a desire to actually meet other people in real life rather than on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanner, a retired history professor, said older people were \u201cmore and more alert\u201d and that there is a \u201cfantastic hunger for education\u201d. She added: \u201cIt\u2019s totally fascinating that there are so many who want to learn more and learn more about the world. It is so very needed in our time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wider societal role that Senioruniversitetet plays is becoming increasingly important, she said, and the learning and wellbeing of its members has a knock-on effect to their families and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is to do with democracy issues and education. Senior citizens don\u2019t live in a vacuum. If nothing else, it has an effect on children and grandchildren,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are an example. Not just sitting rocking in a rocking chair, but you are out and want to learn more. Then you can share that with your grandchildren and children.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThe lectures are fantastic. You become completely fulfilled when you have been to an event and then it bubbles over when you meet others.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many of their volunteers, their office in central Stockholm is like a workplace. \u201cIt is very meaningful work, but also you have such a lovely time and meet others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanner said the demographic of its membership does, however, tend to be \u201ctoo homogenous\u201d, adding that they need to do more to extend their reach to a more diverse audience.<\/p>\n
Susanne Abelin, 66, a former journalist from Norrt\u00e4lje, near Stockholm, volunteers on the university\u2019s newsletter and is learning Italian.<\/p>\n
Ageism is rife in Sweden, she said, and palpable in day-to-day life. \u201cYou are seen more or less as an idiot. Maybe it\u2019s because we have had it so materially well over generations that we don\u2019t need each other so much \u2013 for good and for bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Senioruniversitetet, where over-55s can learn for a relatively low fee, is \u201ca bit of the Swedish welfare system that is still left\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her Italian class has a WhatsApp group so they can stay in touch outside lessons and last year she went to Italy with one of her classmates. \u201cI\u2019m absolutely not fluent in Italian and will never be, but it is inspiring and it keeps your mind alert. Instead of doing crosswords and suduko you can study some verbs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joachim Forsgren, 71, a former physician who now volunteers for the Stockholm branch, has given lectures on \u201cman and drugs\u201d and tuberculosis.<\/p>\n
Volunteering, he said, gives people a \u201csense of meaning and that they are contributing still\u201d. He added: \u201cPeople can get the feeling that they are not contributing once they leave their jobs. Pensioners is a word I hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
By volunteering, he said, \u201cwe are contributing to some kind of democracy project. This is really trying, especially in this day and age, to get people interested in what is going on\u201d. Amid the rise of online disinformation and populism, the university helps people to \u201clook critically at the amount of information we are almost drowning in every day\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run \u201cby pensioners for pensioners\u201d amid increased loneliness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-372405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}