British U3A's Develop Links With Hong Kong

At a recent conference for the elderly in Hong Kong, which will act as a springboard for the development of more U3As there, representatives from British U3A’s spoke about the programs in their country. They explained the movement’s development and growth, and discussed the fact that they receive no funding from the government.

In direct contrast to that, in Hong Kong, the Council for Social Services had suggested to Lingman University that setting up U3As would be valuable for the health and wellbeing of older people. So, to date, the Council has helped to establish 13 U3As in Hong Kong with about 3,500 members.

Program developers also wanted to learn more about the Universities of the Aged in mainland China. This movement has more than 4.5 million members and is run on academic lines while being supported by the government.

There is basic core curriculum centered on health issues, added to which there are a series of courses on cultural subjects such as dance and art and calligraphy. Academics are paid to run courses for the Universities of the Aged, but it’s a nominal sum only.

It was forecasted that, thanks to this conference, there would soon be U3As in each of the 18 sections of the Territory, and that each program would have its own web site and act as the center of another network, creating more U3As as satellites.