THE UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES FOR OLDER ADULTS AND THE SENIOR PROGRAMMES OF THE VIVES NETWORK ARE MEETING THE DAYS 2ND AND 3RD OF FEBRUARY IN TARRAGONA, TO ANALYZE FUTURE MATTERS OF THE PROGRAMMES FOR OLDER ADULTS ON THE UNIVERSITY SPHERE.

The Vives Network is a non-profit institution which represents and coordinates the common action of 22 universities of 4 European states on higher education, research and culture. Since the year 1994, it offers a platform that provides services for universities, public and private and social organizations, with the purpose to contribute to the process of construction an economic and social development of this cross-border university region of the Mediterranean Europe. The network provides benefits to the university community and to society, with all the guarantees of the qualified experience and the commitment for excellence.

This is the 2^nd forum developed by the Vives Network, on the sphere of older adults´ formation and with the aims to offer a space of collaboration between the University Programmes for Older Adults and the Senior Programmes of the Universities, which have pooled their experiences, good practices and concerns which take place on the different university campuses.

Gathered in Tarragona, on the University Rovira I Virgili, the representatives of University Programmes for Older Adults and the Senior Programmes of the Vives Network participated on the 2^nd Day Vives Forum, which was focused on this occasion on the visibility of the formation programmes for older adults and the cultural and research activities that the people over 50 years old carry out who follow these programmes and teachings on the university sphere of the Vives Network distributed on the Catalan speech territories.

The meeting started with the presentation of the report about the current state of the UPOA and the Senior Programmes of each University on the part of the principal of the University Extension Service of the University of Valencia (UVEG), Amparo Pérez Carbonell. These days have relied on the assistance of nearly fourteen universities of the Network, and they have made clear the interest of the institutions on answering the needs of the older adults, as for the impulse of more and better opportunities of learning through a lifetime and the construction of an authentic knowledge society.

To close it, the academics brought the debate and session of work in studying the possible future approaches of the group work, amongst which we can find: 1) the development of joined formation (programme, summer courses…) on the Network sphere; 2) future report about the profitability and benefit of the educational programmes; 3) elaboration of a programme of trainers training courses, 4) the proposal of a debate league for older adults and 5) a study  of the financial ways of European programmes.

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