Never Too Old

Well, I’ve now had my third piece appear in The Golden Times, and have agreed to become a regular contributor on issues around education for retirees. Under the somewhat wordy title of ‘Advancing years no reason to stop furthering a tertiary education‘, it provides a snippet of what’s available to us should we be inclined to continue study. Here it is.

The UK’s Open University set the benchmark for distance education in the 1960s, followed by other academic institutions globally, thereby opening up myriad opportunities for older students to study. Picking up a degree along the way is optional.

Many decades ago, my teaching career took a turn into the world of distance education. It proved productive, giving me the opportunity to work overseas and enjoy creating a variety of courses for study.

At the time, the leading institution in this form of education was The Open University in the UK, created in the 1960s with the aim of providing second-chance university courses for those who had missed out after completing their schooling.

The Open University set new standards of excellence in distance education, in terms of both the quality of its learning materials and the level of student support, becoming the acknowledged worldwide benchmark for excellence.

Most of its students classified as mature are relatively young (nearly 60 per cent are aged 25 to 45), but the university has attracted significant numbers of older enrolees over the years. In particular, its cohort of more than 200,000 students for 2021-22 included two per cent at undergraduate level and six per cent at post-graduate level of people aged 65 and over. Taking students aged 55 and over, these numbers jump to five per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

Italy’s oldest student, Giuseppe Paterno, aged 96

You can see where this is going. Age is no barrier to continuing your education, including higher education. The oldest Open University graduate was reported this year to be 95-year-old David Marjot, who completed a masters in modern European philosophy. While we’re at it, an internet search revealed the oldest graduating student as Virginia Hislop, who, at 105, received her degree in education from Stanford University. I should add, though, that the award was for studies completed about 80 years earlier, so perhaps this doesn’t count. On the American front, 89-year-old Mary Fasano does certainly count when she graduated from Harvard in 1997.

Looking at Australia, a point of comparison are the figures for Open Universities Australia (OUA), a consortium offering a range of courses from 25 universities. The list includes the University of Queensland and the University of New England, both of which have histories of involvement in distance education dating back many decades. In 2022, there were 767 Australians aged 60 and over enrolled in OUA, representing just over three per cent of total enrolments. The figure for those over 50 jumps to nearly 10 per cent.

So, if you’re intellectually curious, go for it. Investigate what’s on offer, either through OUA or through your nearest university. Quite a few courses do not require previous qualifications, and some which do require them provide bridging studies to get you started.

“But I don’t want a degree, I just want to learn more about the French Revolution,” I hear you say. That is not a problem, as you can enrol in just the specific subjects that interest you. Research has shown that a high percentage of older enrolees do not complete a qualification simply because they don’t want one.

There is also the issue of how to study, whether online or in a face-to-face class. It’s understandable that some older persons are a little reluctant to join a class of fresh-faced undergraduates and prefer to study at home. Online learning has advanced rapidly in recent years and is now a part of most higher education courses.

You don’t need reminding of the benefits of learning with respect to maintaining and improving cognitive function, potentially protecting you from the ravages of decline and conditions such as dementia. Taking up university study can be rewarding and fun, providing structure to your efforts to pursue your curiosity in some facet of the world.

PS Now I’m a regular columnist, I have an official publicity shot and blurb for The Golden Times. The blurb reads: ‘Dr David Murphy is a retired academic who spent his working career at universities in Australia and Hong Kong. His final full-time position was as professor and head of the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching at Monash.’

The ‘greatest driver of the past, present and future’

I’ve written previously about the joy of meeting my heroes (here and here), but there is a legend I never have nor ever will meet. You see, he died half a world away when I was only 20 months old. Though adored in Italy, Tazio Nuvolari isn’t particularly well known in the rest of the world, even in motor racing circles. Continue reading

Introducing ‘The Golden Times’

My old friend and swimming buddy, Nick Way, edits an online newsletter, The Golden Times, which aims to “provide Australian retirees with news and insights about finance and lifestyle issues to help them live their greatest life.” Topics covered include investing, superannuation, property, regulation and travel. If you’re a senior, check it out – you may just find something useful.

Now I’m certainly not one to offer advice on finance, but am happy to write about other issues in the lives of us older individuals. So, on Nick’s invitation, my first offering, an opinion piece, was to do with my favourite pastime, surfing. It goes like this: Continue reading

Kai Tak memories

Kai Tak! The name evokes memories for millions of (older) travellers, Hong Kong’s spectacular and hair-raising airport for decades up to its closure in 1998. It was the first international airport we visited, when we arrived in Hong Kong for me to take up a job at Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1985, a young married couple from Tasmania with two small children in tow. Though we’d heard of its reputation, nothing could prepare us for the landing of the first Boeing 747 we’d been on, as it banked hard right over Kowloon Tong and flew low over the towering flats (yes, you could see the people inside – it was the evening) onto the runway. Continue reading

Swimming Along

I like swimming, though didn’t become a competent nor confidant swimmer until in my mid-30s. While our children were having swimming training at Marlins Aquatic Club in Sha Tin, Marilyn and I began to do laps in the parents lane, at first simply to pass the time. Thankfully the training was late afternoon, rather than early morning. With such regular exercise we became ‘swim fit’, and with our associated involvement in the swim club, we took part in masters’ swimming competitions. Continue reading

Is online education good for learning?

Is online education good for learning? Nearly twenty five years ago, this was a relevant and pressing question for the education sector, universities in particular. Back then I was working at Monash University under the grand title of Associate Professor in Flexible Learning (flexible learning being the popular catchphrase at the time). I’d been working closely with my friend and colleague Len Webster at the time, and we’d been heavily involved in the development of online learning, going so far as designing and developing our own software (InterLearn) for the presentation of our post-graduate flexible learning course for academic staff. Continue reading

Trollope in Australia – half a pint of Yering estate wine for threepence!

As I’ve previously written, I’m a fan of the author Anthony Trollope (1815 – 1882). His books are engaging, wry, and conjure up visions of life in the latter half of the nineteenth century. If you haven’t read any of his voluminous output, you’ll at least have heard of some of the films and series based on his work: The Barchester Chronicles, Doctor Thorne, The Pallisers, The Way We Live Now, … Continue reading

Bach didn’t only love beer!

In a previous post, I extolled the virtues of J.S. Bach, and mentioned my surprise at discovering that he was, to put it lightly, a ‘bit of a lad’ (street-fighting, imprisonment, father to at least 20 known offspring, incorrigible, …). Added to the list of his outrageous pursuits was a love of beer. What I’ve more recently discovered is that Bach had another specific passion, and that was coffee, making him a regular at Leipzig’s Zimmermann Coffee House. Continue reading