At 8 o'clock in the morning on March 10, 57-year-old Jing Changying, after busy making breakfast and sending her children to school, immediately followed the ranks of office workers, squeezed into the subway during the morning rush hour, and rushed to the National University for the Elderly to attend the chorus class that started at 9 o'clock.
In addition to winter and summer vacations, she has spent two days a week repeating this trip for the past two years. Among her classmates, some elderly people spent more than an hour rushing to class, and some were "Beijing drifters" who followed their children to live in Beijing.
Jing Changying said: “I come to class regardless of rain, on the one hand I want to enrich my life after retirement, and on the other hand I want to fulfill my dream of not receiving higher education when I was young.”
Three months ago, when the Weigongcun Campus of the National University for the Elderly opened registration for the spring semester on the WeChat mini program, she "sited" online and grabbed a spot in the chorus class and the travel English class. Although the enrollment of the University for the Elderly has increased sharply from more than 1,500 students in the fall semester last year to more than 2,600 students, the seats in the popular chorus class were also sold out within five minutes. All 26 classes, including Peking Opera, Tibetan dance, and Yang-style Tai Chi, were fully booked 8 hours after the enrollment channel opened.
Shi Yunzhi, deputy dean of the college directly affiliated with the National University for the Elderly, said that some elderly people are even willing to stand in class just to participate in popular courses. Since individual students may choose to drop out of classes temporarily, the school has also launched waiting seats like 12306. "Now the Weigongcun campus can no longer accommodate more students, and the utilization of all classrooms has reached its maximum."
There are more than 300 million elderly people in China, but according to data from the China University Association for the Elderly, as of April 2023, there are 76,000 universities (schools) for the elderly at all levels and types across the country, with more than 20 million students participating in the study, which can only meet about 8% of middle-aged and elderly people in need.
Starting from 2024, elderly care institutions, education and training institutions, communities, etc. have started to open universities for the elderly, and universities for the elderly have set off a "tidal wave of enrollment expansion." Data from the China Association of Universities for the Elderly shows that in the past five years, the number of universities for the elderly has grown at an average annual rate of 4.7%, far exceeding that of undergraduate colleges.
Expansion of enrollment in a university for senior citizens
Under the spotlight, 62-year-old Wen Zheng'an and more than 30 classmates, dressed in uniform sky blue short-sleeves and berets, appeared in the 2024 CCTV Double Ninth Festival special program. This was an experience he had never had before in his more than 30 years of working life.
At the end of 2022, after Wen Zheng'an retired from a central enterprise, he suddenly had a lot of leisure time, which made him unable to adapt. He said: "We are the first group of young people to experience the reform and opening up, and we have been following the pace of reform and opening up almost continuously since then. After retirement, we are actually worried about not being able to keep up with the development of new things, not to mention that this is a 30-year retirement life."
On his wife's recommendation, Wen Zheng'an and his wife jointly enrolled in the Weigongcun Campus of the National University for the Elderly. His wife chose piano classes, while he chose three courses: chorus, mobile photography and calligraphy. Each course has a total of 12 lessons, with fees ranging from 600 yuan to 800 yuan, and one class per week.
In order to ensure that he is not late, he gets up at around 6 o'clock every morning and then takes the subway for nearly an hour to go to school. After class, he needs to repeatedly practice the photography or calligraphy content of the day, and from time to time participate in various performances with his chorus class classmates.
In two years, Wen Zheng'an never missed any course.
Wen Zheng'an even said with a smile: "Going to school can also reduce many family conflicts. If you stay at home doing nothing all day, it is inevitable that there will be disputes between husband and wife." Many elderly people's families also support them in attending senior universities. The enthusiasm of the elderly for learning can also affect the learning attitude of the younger generations.
On March 10, at the opening ceremony of the spring semester at the Weigongcun Campus of the National University for the Elderly, a large number of elderly people dressed in costumes and dressed up carefully met with friends in front of the school's big screen and asked on-site staff to help take photos.
In order to cope with the hot registration demand from the elderly, the enrollment number of the Weigongcun Campus of the National University for the Elderly increased from more than 1,500 last year to more than 2,600 students in this spring semester, and the number of courses increased from more than 60 to more than 120. In order to cope with the nearly doubling of the number of students, the school has increased its course schedule from two classes a day last year to four classes a day now, and the number of regular teachers has also been expanded to more than 80 people. In addition, many university professors also serve as part-time teachers in the school.
According to Shi Yunzhi, the school's branch in Shijingshan District will be put into use in the next two years, and the number of students the new campus can recruit each year is expected to exceed 10,000.
Compared with his work pace before retirement, Wen Zheng'an is often busier during school days. During a dinner with former colleagues, many colleagues who were still employed expressed their envy of Wen Zheng'an's retirement life and expressed their hope that they could enter a university for the elderly after retirement. Wen Zheng'an said: "When I was young, I had no conditions and no time after work, so after retirement, it is more tiring to go to college for the elderly, but I enjoy it."
Shi Yunzhi said that the school's curriculum content has been in a stage of rapid expansion in recent years, and it also actively listens to the opinions of the elderly to open new courses. Most of the school's students are between the ages of 50 and 70. Compared with those born in the 40s and 50s, those born in the 70s and 80s are generally more educated and more willing to pay for course-based knowledge.
According to the regulations of the National University for the Elderly, Weigongcun Campus, if students complete two-thirds of the course hours each semester, the school will issue a completion certificate to them. At present, the school has six colleges and a total of 92 courses, including many youth-oriented courses such as beauty, Latin dance, and guitar.
Take the college's tourism English course as an example. Since it went online last fall semester, the course seats were all taken up on the first day it went online. Shi Yunzhi said that many elderly people now have the need to travel abroad, so tourism English and other courses will start from a practical perspective and mainly teach practical English sentences around boarding, foreign shopping, hotel check-in, customs and other scenes, rather than traditional English courses.
In actual management and teaching, Shi Yunzhi also found that the classrooms of senior universities have become a social place for many elderly people. He said that although the school has also launched online courses, the elderly are still more willing to participate in offline courses. Many elderly people feel that home life is boring, and they long for a channel to communicate and make friends, and the University for the Elderly just provides a gathering platform for elderly people with the same interests and hobbies.
At present, the operating funds of the Weigongcun Campus of the National University for the Elderly mainly come from student tuition fees. According to Shi Yunzhi, even if the school is close to full capacity, tuition revenue can only barely ensure breakeven, and this is on the premise that the school does not need to pay rent for office buildings.
He said that some of the 44 provincial branches and 65 branch schools of the University for the Elderly have received financial subsidies at the provincial level. "Universities for the elderly undertake many social responsibilities and are also facing greater operational pressure. If more public universities for the elderly can receive stable financial subsidies in the future, the schools can also provide better educational resources for the elderly."
The expansion of universities for the elderly
In November 2021, the "Opinions on Strengthening Aging Work in the New Era" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council clearly proposed to rely on the Open University of China to prepare for the establishment of a national university for the elderly and build a national education resource sharing and public service platform for the elderly. In March 2023, the National University for the Elderly was officially established. When attending the opening event, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng proposed that the entire education system should be pooled, the resources of the entire society should be gathered, and the trend of digitalization should be taken advantage of to jointly run the National University for the Elderly.
After two years of development, the National University for the Elderly has quickly become a “chain university for the elderly” that accommodates the largest number of elderly people. Up to now, the National University for the Elderly has established a total of 44 provincial branches, 65 branch schools, and one model school (i.e., the National University for the Elderly Weigongcun Campus). Overall, the number of registered users of the National University for the Elderly platform has exceeded 10 million, with 19,000 full-time teachers and 101,000 part-time teachers.
In the past year, universities for the elderly in many places across the country have entered a period of enrollment expansion. Shanghai University for the Elderly, Changchun University for the Elderly, Xiamen University for the Elderly and other universities in many places have proposed to expand enrollment. For example, Xiamen University for the Elderly plans to open 80 to 100 additional teaching classes in the 2025-2026 academic year based on the 324 teaching classes this year.
In addition to the number of schools and enrollment, universities for the elderly are also investing in a new round of construction to cope with the rapidly growing demand.
The China Association of Universities for the Elderly released a report titled "Investigation Report on the Development of Universities for the Elderly in my country" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") in December 2024. The "Report" surveyed more than 800 universities for the elderly across the country, showing that 133 universities for the elderly are organizing the compilation of textbooks, accounting for 21.9%, 261 universities for the elderly are updating equipment, accounting for 43.07%, and 172 universities for the elderly are organizing Under renovation and expansion, accounting for 28.38%, 259 universities for the elderly are undergoing informatization/digital construction, accounting for 42.74%, and 81 universities for the elderly are undergoing other construction (aging-friendly transformation, etc.), accounting for 13.37%.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2024, China will be in a deeply aging society, with the population aged 60 and above exceeding 300 million for the first time, accounting for 22.0% of the national population. Judging from the birth population trend, China's aging process will continue to accelerate in the next ten years. With the deepening of aging, the importance of senior universities in enriching the retirement life of the elderly has become increasingly prominent.
Should colleges for the elderly be an industry?
Public universities for the elderly are still the mainstay of universities for the elderly, but in the past two years, in addition to the expansion of universities for the elderly directly operated and managed by government departments, various forms of universities for the elderly have also emerged on the market. The "Report" shows that the current main body of running universities for the elderly in my country is showing a diversified development trend. There are 694 institutions sponsored by government departments/local governments, accounting for 85.36%, followed by 45 institutions sponsored by central state agencies/ministries, accounting for 5.54%, and thirdly, 25 institutions sponsored by social forces (private), accounting for 3.08 %, the number sponsored by universities is 20, accounting for 2.46%, the number sponsored by the education department is 20, accounting for 2.09%, the number sponsored by large state-owned enterprises is 9, accounting for 1.11%, the number sponsored by scientific research institutions is 3, accounting for 0.37%.
According to the reporter's research, the main forces currently operating private senior universities include elderly care institutions, education and training institutions, and community streets.
To a certain extent, private universities for the elderly have alleviated the supply-demand contradiction of "hard-to-find" public universities for the elderly. At the same time, by attracting the elderly to pay for other projects, they can also further meet the diversified consumption needs of the elderly. The "Opinions" clearly stated that social forces should be supported in establishing universities (schools) for the elderly and other measures to promote the expansion of the supply of education resources for the elderly.
On the other hand, some private universities for the elderly have operational chaos, such as deliberately guiding the elderly to pay for other high-profit projects.
During the investigation, Zheng Zhigang, vice president of the Community Home Care Branch of the Chinese Society of Gerontology and Gerontology, found that some elderly education institutions have rich courses and low fees. Their business logic is to attract the elderly to pay for other projects, such as travel and health care, insurance sales, elderly supplies, etc. This is similar to the model of "giving out free eggs to attract the elderly."
Zheng Zhigang said that elderly college students are a high-quality consumer group in the concept of silver economy. Because senior education institutions are not supervised by the education department or the civil affairs department, some institutions have begun to play the role of senior universities and guide middle-aged and elderly students to consume in violation of regulations. And before the project explodes, it is difficult for relevant departments to directly supervise it.
In January 2024, the "Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy to Improve the Welfare of the Elderly" issued by the General Office of the State Council clearly stated that the establishment of universities for the elderly must be approved by the education department, obtain school-running qualifications before enrolling students, and must accept the supervision of regulatory authorities to ensure their quality.
In this context, Zheng Zhigang suggested that the regulatory body of universities for the elderly should be clarified as soon as possible, the review and inspection of the qualifications of universities for the elderly should be strengthened, and behaviors such as false propaganda and illegal guidance of consumption by universities for the elderly should be strictly monitored. "For example, if a nursing home is under the management of the civil affairs department, the civil affairs department will strictly restrict the commercial activities of the nursing home within the institution."
