TERESA WRIGHT CONSTABLE
The Guardian - August 27, 2007
The Seniors College of P.E.I. is hosting an Atlantic conference this week in the hopes of inspiring similar models of senior learning in other provinces.
Representatives from seven provinces are on the Island taking part in the conference activities and exploring the success of the Island Seniors College.
Bruce Garrity, Seniors College co-ordinator, said the conference was organized to get the word out about how well the idea has taken off on P.E.I.
“We thought we should tell people about us, because we think we have a good thing going here. Seniors College is a success story on P.E.I. and we think that many people should duplicate us, should they want to.”
In eight years, the Seniors College of P.E.I. has gone from 25 participants to 450 students, Garrity said.
“That may not be as big as a university, but it’s pretty good growth and we’re very proud that our students love Seniors College, keep coming back and our teachers love teaching.”
The courses are offered for a nominal fee of $125 per semester of eight to 10 weeks of class time.
The teachers are mostly retired professors and high school teachers, and get paid a small fee for their services.
The main reason they do it is because they love it, Garrity said.
“You can’t beat this. Students who want to learn and teachers who want to teach. This is a marriage made in heaven.”
Representatives from the universities of Regina, Toronto, St. Mary’s and Memorial University are taking part.
But despite their university affiliations, they will explore the practical steps in getting a seniors college started in a small community without a university or college. Garrity said this is because he believes seniors’ learning shouldn’t be too tied to post-secondary education.
“The key to seniors college is that it isn’t university- based. What we want is someone in the community who’s civic-minded and will work with the university but not for it. It has to be driven by somebody that it’s not their job to do it — but that they want to do it.”
This is exactly what Garrity has done, being the driving force behind the P.E.I. Seniors College.
Garrity, a former city councillor, works hard to secure teachers, classrooms and learning materials for the classes. But he said the work has been well worth it.
The conference takes place until Wednesday on the UPEI campus.
Some of the topics on the agenda include the history and development of the seniors’ college model, seniors learning models in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, and the work of the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement.
There will be a panel discussion by representatives of the Community School, the Centre for Life-Long Learning, Holland College, and the P.E.I. Senior’s Federation.
The final conference session will be an open panel discussion on strategies for the future.
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