Educação permanente, não formal, como instrumento para a valorização e o reconhecimento do idoso: o modelo da Unati/UEM / Permanent education, no formal, as a tool for elderly appreciation and recognition: a model of UEM/UNATI

Abstract

The increase in the elderly population is a worldwide phenomenon. That got the need to recognize these people, and the creation of specific institutions. In order to enhance and ensure the participation of older people in society, the universities open to seniors were created. Conceived by Professor Vellas, these institutions were dispersed throughout the world and arrived in Brazil in the 1980s. The University Open to Senior from Maringá´s stadual university, created in 2009 and guided by the principles of permanent nonformal education, currently serves 400 students aged less than 60 years old, offering 40 divided and organized into six axes free courses: “Art and culture”; “Communicative processes and procedures”;  “Physi-  cal and mental health”, “physical and social Half”; “Law and Citizenship” and “Humanities”. The high demand for these institutions can be explained because they represent the opportunity for social participation in consistent with the actual capacity of older people, without embarrassment or shame activities.