Visitor to the AFU from Brazil!

The last three weeks, we were delighted to welcome Camille Auatt in the Age-Friendly University.

Visiting as a scholar she is completing her PhD studies on Age-Inclusive Education and was interested in our programme. Some of you might have met her during the Love of Lifelong Learning courses or during our visit of the Museum of Literature. 

This is Camille's views on her visit:

During my visit at DCU, I had the opportunity to discover a new way to promote education for older adults. 

The Age-Friendly Initiative works to encourage a university for all ages and through designed courses and activities it was possible to note that they are achieving this goal related to education – my research focus.

Attending these courses, I was able to understand how the classes work and how the students are interested in these.

I was very surprised at the level of classes, how the subjects are conducted by professors as a normal academic course and how they genuinely enjoy the discussions and contributions from the students. Even during choir classes, the students are not just there to sing, there is a very good music knowledge. That’s amazing, because they study - and learn - the lyrics and tones.

Thanks to this programme, I also was able to reinforce my point of view that older adults desire and are able attend formal education, as long as the classes and activities are designed for them and their needs are considered.

Therefore, I really enjoyed my time at DCU understanding this revolution called AFU. It contributed to my PhD research and improved my skills related to ageing and education.

We would also like to thank Camille for her visit and we are sure everyone that met her were very glad to do so.