A proposed new Hong Kong university will swap student bicycles and discos for zimmerframes and tea parties if a plan put forward to open a college for pensioners gets off the ground.
The university for the elderly was suggested by government cabinet member Leong Che-hung to give the Chinese territory's growing army of senior citizens a chance to earn degrees they couldn't study in their younger days, an official said.
The so-called Third Age University is hoped to grow from a scheme being launched later this year that will open up regular schools to after-hours classes for the aged.
"Should this prove effective, we hope to extend this elderly learning in a formal way ... by engaging more schools and more students, and by moving into more advanced learning in the form of an institute of higher learning or a Third Age University," said Leong Chi-hung, chairman of the government's Elderly Commission.
"Hopefully these institutions may even award degrees to answer the dreams of many seniors who yearn to be university graduates but were robbed of such chances in their younger days, as they had to till and toil for their families," Leong added in a radio address.
Leong, a member of the government cabinet, said the southern Chinese territory could expect to see the number of pensioners in the city rise in the next 25 years, from one in seven people aged over 65 today to one in four by 2033.
The government has said it is concerned that the city's ageing population, coupled with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, would spell disaster for future social services funding.
The elderly study scheme will allow senior citizens to learn subjects related to health and wellbeing, as well as other more academic disciplines such as English, calligraphy and painting.
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