Happy Learning, Neglecting Your Age
In order to build up the habit of life-long learning, post-retirement learning motives, and to maintain healthy body and mind to senior citizens, the Ministry of Education started to promote “Senior Citizen Active Learning Centers” in 2008 with the spirit of “Happy learning, neglecting your age” and “active living”. Citizens above the age of 55 were the main target and “Senior Citizen Active Learning Centers” were established nationwide. This activity also combined with universities that promoting “Senior Citizens’ Active Life Long Learning Universities” to encourage retirees to participate the training to be a senior lecturer. Active life long learning has provided senior citizens with a new path of learning to further enrich their golden years.

Active Life Long Learning Trend
National Senior Citizen Active Learning Centers use the concept that helps counties, townships, and cities to explore a “one locale, one characteristic feature” curriculum which combines a locale’s culture and industry to create “characteristic feature courses” and provide seniors people with “policy promotional courses” to help seniors link up with the pulse of society. Courses such as “basic life courses” helps seniors understand knowledge related to aging, “leisure interests courses” develop healthy interests in group living while the “contributing services course” helps seniors to improve self-affirmation by helping others. Currently the Ministry of Education has established 271 Senior Citizen Active Learning Centers across the nation to provide seniors with various appropriate learning courses.

Senior Citizens’ Active Life Long Learning Universities – Realizing Seniors’ Dreams of Attending College
The Ministry of Education has collaborated with universities nationwide to promote the “Senior Citizens’ Active Life Long Learning Universities” program which follows a standard university system (break down to first and second semesters) and provides 6 hours of courses weekly to allow seniors and university students to attend class and interact in a pleasant and friendly campus environment.
The implementation of this program has successfully triggered the opportunity to allow seniors to enter university campuses and help them fulfill their dreams while allowing universities to contribute to this aging society. Universities within the nation highly support this program, indicated by the annual increase of participants from 56 schools in 2010, 84 schools in 2011, and 98 schools in 2012. This allows seniors a chance to fulfill their college dreams and utilize the abundant educational resources of universities.

Training Senior to be a Professional Educator
Due to the continuous increase of the senior population in Taiwan and in order to encourage seniors to contribute their wisdom and experience towards society after their retirement, the Ministry of Education has begun the training of professional senior education personnel in 2012 (4 categories ranging from senior lecturers, leaders for senior study groups, senior education tour guides, and senior education project managers). Each group conducts training in beginning, advanced, and hands-on training.

Develop Educational Materials for Senior Citizen Active Learning
Senior learning differs from the learning processes in standard education. In recent years the Ministry of Education has developed educational materials relating to generational education, retirement planning, senior citizen active learning, grandparents-grandchildren relations, senior citizen active learning center work manuals, voluntary social worker manuals, senior citizen active learning center creative learning materials, senior citizen autonomous group learning and learning materials and other topics. Up to 2012, a total of 24 types of learning materials were completed and was able to provide seniors with diverse learning materials for use in senior citizen active learning centers and related departments nationwide.

Promoting the Grandparents Day
The relationship between generations in families has major changed resulting in less interaction. In 2008-2009 the Ministry of Education has combined senior citizen active learning centers, halls, and family education centers to promote “grandparent-grandchildren week” and starting from 2011, the 4th week in August every year has been established as a holiday for the older generation. A series of events are held with the support of related corporations, senior citizen active learning centers, family education centers, and community halls.

Up until now, the development of the Ministry of Education’s senior education policy has triggered a new wave of active learning that has enabled seniors to “happily learn and neglect their age”. To address the coming acceleration of population aging, the Ministry of Education will promote a learning model which is more localized and innovative to enable citizens to enjoy a more fulfilling life as a senior.

Establishing County and Municipal Level Senior Citizen Active Learning Demonstration Centers
In order to develop Taiwan’s senior learning operational models and support the promotion of senior education’s role model, 7 superior senior citizen active learning centers out of more than 200 nationwide have been chosen in 2012 and transformed into “Senior Citizen Active Learning Demonstration Centers”. Their spaces have been improved through revitalized unused space( for example, in Pingtung County the unused cultural museum was utilized) along with the development of courses featuring senior citizen active learning. These centers are the role model that senior citizen active learning centers across the nation could follow.
Role models are listed as follow:

All Senior Citizen Active Learning Demonstration Center welcome your visit, inquiries can be sent to hueifen@mail.moe.gov.tw.

For related information, please visit the “Ministry of Education Senior Active Learning Website”.
（Website：http://moe.senioredu.moe.gov.tw）