Retirees with ‘fantastic hunger for education’ taking part in university organised events in record numbers
Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions.
Senioruniversitet, a national university that collaborates with Sweden’s 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.
The Stockholm branch, which is Sweden’s 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.
Recent Stockholm lectures have included “The art of awarding Nobel prizes” by a former member of a Nobel committee, “Disinformation and AI – the threat we invented ourselves” and “From soap to cultural heritage/canon and vice versa.”
