EFOS was founded in 1990 at Bressanone (Italy) by Mr. Leopold Auinger from Innsbruck (Austria) with its Headquarters at Brussels and its General Office in Austria. The aim of EFOS is the protection of the interests of older students in universities in Europe. Since its foundation EFOS has had international meetings twice a year in various European countries. EFOS is in contact with the UN in Vienna (a representative of EFOS is a member of the “Committee on Ageing”) and with AIUTA (International Association of the Universities of the Third Age).
Aims of EFOS:
– Promoting high level education of older people alongside younger students or at special academies/universities for older people
– Fostering of joint projects for older students throughout Europe
– Fostering and securing the access of older people, including those without formal qualifications, to education at the highest level
– Representing the interests of academic education for older people in politics and society
– Fostering of autonomous national organizations with similar goals
– Identifying possibilities of using the skills and expertise of older students for the benefit of science and society
– Cooperating with other international organizations that support lifelong learning (LLL).
Members: Institutions and individual senior students in the following countries: Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden, Switzerland. At this moment (2020) EFOS has 19 institutional and 19 individual members.
Source: https://www.efos-europa.eu/
Access date: 04.12.2020