Age-Friendly Universities Are Finally Here

Fifty-one colleges and universities worldwide are currently members of the Age-Friendly University Global Network, up from zero eight years ago, reports Next Avenue . "How age-friendly is interpreted on every campus is different from university to university," notes network project coordinator Christine O'Kelly. "We're not prescriptive." To join the network, a school only has to endorse 10 principles inspired by the World Health Organization and AARP's age-friendly cities movement. Adopting all 10 principles is not obligatory. These principles include: encouraging the participation of older adults in all the core activities of the university, including educational and research programs; recognizing the range of educational needs of older adults — from those who were early school-leavers through to those who wish to pursue Master's or Ph.D qualifications; promoting intergenerational learning to facilitate the reciprocal sharing of expertise between students of all ages; and widening access to online educational opportunities for older adults to ensure a diversity of routes to participation. The idea is to avoid envisioning age-friendly as a silo with, for example, just one campus program for older students or one for midlife adults. Older faculty and staff, alumni, donors, and community residents also should be factored in. For the University of Manitoba's program, older adults function as "citizen scientists" and collect data via apps, taking photos of "elements on campus that are supports or barriers to being age-friendly," says Manitoba Center on Aging Director Michelle Porter.