Universities for the elderly enrich the lives of graying population

Policies taking shape

Since China started becoming an aging society at the end of the 20th century, the proportion of the elderly in the total population has continued to grow.

From 2000 to 2018, the number of people age 60 and above increased from 126 million to 249 million, and the proportion of the elderly in the total population increased from 10.2 percent to 17.9 percent.

Chinese seniors now want to enrich their spare time and improve their quality of life by attending university and participating in community activities.

Statistics from the China Association of Universities for the Elderly show that by the end of 2018, China had 62,000 universities and schools for the elderly, with more than 8 million students attending classes and more than 5 million students participating through distance learning.

In November, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council jointly unveiled a medium-and long-term plan for responding proactively to the aging population, proposing to build a social environment marked by filial piety, respect for the elderly and protection of the aged.

The plan highlights improving the effective supply of labor in an aging society, which requires improving the quality of new members of the labor force, establishing a lifelong learning system for senior citizens, and striving to achieve more employment and create better-quality jobs.

Yin Jianlin and her classmates were sketching the image of perfect grandparents during a class. After counting more than a dozen virtues, all the students gathered to share their feelings.

Some said that perfect grandparents should be literate and good tempered, while others said a decent appearance was also indispensable.

Yin, however, had a different perspective. "There are no perfect grandparents, we can only try our best to be better," she said.