It's Never Too Late To Learn
Lancaster University is opening its doors to senior learners again next term. Every Monday from 30 April older adults, retired or not, are invited to find out what the University has to offer them.
As well as a range of courses in the morning and afternoon – including Art, Latin, Introduction to Computer Animation and Older People in the Political Process - there are lunchtime talks and discussions with University academics, opportunities to talk to a tutor about study plans and a ‘Research Circle’, where people doing research projects can share ideas and encourage each other.
Pauline Stewart and Liz Rodgers, two students in the Research Circle, will be travelling to Scotland in May to present a paper on the innovative Senior Learners’ Programme at an international conference on Learning in Later Life at Strathclyde University, with Fiona Frank, coordinator of the Programme, and Professor Keith Percy, Head of the Department of Continuing Education at Lancaster University.
Liz said: “I saw the leaflet in the library. I’d taken early retirement and thought the Programme was just made for me. I didn’t want deadlines but I wanted to keep my brain ticking over.”
Fiona Frank explained: “I asked Liz and Pauline to ask the other students what they thought of the Research Circle. They’ve done questionnaires and a focus group and put together a brilliant presentation. I’ll be proud to go with them to Strathclyde!”
Judith Innes, another student on the Senior Learners’ Programme, studying Chinese Language and Culture, commented: “You learn things you’d never have dreamed of doing on this Programme. The tutors are brilliant, and the lunchtime talks give you a great insight into what goes on at the University”. Fellow student Denise Carlyle added: “It’s great value too, and you can use the library and the University computers for the rest of the week!”
After coming to deliver a lunchtime talk, Professor Anne Garden from the University’s new Centre for Medical Education asked the Senior Learners’ Programme if they could help the Centre, by providing a group of people with chronic medical conditions that the Centre could use to help train medical students. A new short course, ‘Talking about Health’, starts on Monday 30 April and is designed to help make this happen.
For further details about the Senior Learners’ Programme or to register, contact the Department of Continuing Education at Lancaster University on 01524 592623/4.