Up until now, all the university courses I've completed have been work related. Despite lofty dreams of 'education for education's sake', I've tried to be practical. If a course wasn't going to lead to a clear career path or likely promotion, I probably couldn't afford the time or money to enrol. So while I've gathered five university qualifications over the past 39 years, mostly studied part time and by distance learning, they were each more for business than for pleasure.
Happily, there are benefits to getting older! Specifically, as I'm over 50, I've been able to join the University of the Third Age (U3A). There's a thriving U3A community in Canberra and the organisation has an arrangement with the University of Canberra that allows members to audit (i.e. attend) university lectures. Subjects I considered when I was younger, and didn't study as they seemed too irrelevant, too esoteric, too decadent … are now at my fingertips. This semester I've signed up to attend an anthropology unit. Next semester it'll be sociology. This is really exciting. And, dare I say, it's even better than being a 'real' student as you don't have to do assignments or exams. You can just soak up the atmosphere and learn new things. Brilliant.
Libraries are another free and
fabulous source of knowledge :-)
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