zzz The U3A Movement
The U3A Movement
U3A stands for the University of the Third Age, which is a self-help organisation for people no longer in full time employment providing educational, creative and leisure opportunities in a friendly environment.
It consists of local U3As all over the UK, which are charities in their own right and are run entirely by volunteers.
Local U3As are learning cooperatives which draw upon the knowledge, experience and skills of their own members to organise and provide interest groups in accordance with the wishes of the membership. The teachers learn and the learners teach.
The U3A approach to learning is – learning for pleasure. There is no accreditation or validation and there are no assessments or qualifications to be gained.
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The Beginning
In 1981, Cambridge University academic Peter Laslett hosted a conference in Cambridge to discuss the possibility of bringing the U3A to Britain.
The emerging U3A movement needed to quickly lay its hands on some money and The Nuffield Foundation provided a grant of £9,000.
Peter Laslett wrote the Objects and Principles of the U3A i.e. groups of people to get together to learn what interested them, with a group leader or convenor to co-ordinate and help guide their efforts. In addition, it was decided that the U3A should not be dependent on public funds to ensure it was not tied to state policy.
An experimental Easter School, at St John’s College, Cambridge in March 1982, led to the creation of the first U3A, in Cambridge and a National Committee. After paying Easter School expenses, £6400 of the grant was left which was split In two. £3200 went to creating the National Base, and £3200 to the emerging Cambridge U3A.
The first national U3A magazine appeared in September 1983 and in summer 1984 it was named the ‘Third Age’. In October 1983, the U3A’s national organisation was registered as a charity called The Third Age Trust.
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