THE UNIVERSITY OF THE 3RD AGE - ROLE OF SENIOR-CITIZENS

A university is essentially a place of teaching, research, and service to the community in which it is integrated. These are the ways universities have always been defined. However, in their historical genesis, universities of the third age (UTAs) have mostly developed, up to now, only the teaching facet. We cannot doubt that this type of research is most useful in the experimental sciences, particularly the medical or paramedical sciences. However, we could not pretend to limit the senior in a research model where her or his only function is to be an object. This is why we must develop a research model in which the senior is the subject or agent of research. This model is action research. It is easy to conclude that the analysis of the role of object and subject, in our demonstration, tends to assume that the UTA must favor action-research without excluding the basic research. It is characteristic of action-research to enhance the ''subjective and objective commitment'' (Rossini, 1986) of the whole personality of the senior for the transformation of her or his environment. Moreover, with this research, senior citizens transform their subjectivity and intuitions into objective knowledge put to the service of the collectivity. Senior citizens are not tagging behind anymore; they are active agents of progress.