Expanding opportunities of higher learning for older adults: A comparative study on Japan and the United States

This study focuses on opportunities for older learners in higher education institutions in the United States and Japan. Major questions to be addressed here are: how the education of older people has been shaped in these countries; what opportunities are currently available to older learners in American and Japanese higher education institutions; and what factors have been affecting the development and expansion of opportunities for higher learning for older adults in these two different societies. The issues are comparatively examined and discussed based on the analysis of survey data, documented materials, and other information collected in the United States and Japan.;The study shows that a number of American universities and colleges have gradually expanded opportunities for older learners to some extent by a flexible application of the existing policies, offering a special program for older adults or providing some incentive measures. It is hoped now that higher education institutions will initiate redesigning the curriculum and innovation of instructional methods in order to meet the needs of older students.;On the other hand, in Japan, most of the educational programs for older adults were initiated locally under governmental guidelines in response to drastic demographic changes. Because of its inherent youth orientation, the need for the education of older adults has rarely been met by the traditional higher education system. Some alternative programs, as exemplified by a locally initiated seniors college, are likely to develop more in the future.;The analysis of factors affecting the development of the education of older adults, i.e., demographic changes, the expansion of higher education, the development of educational gerontology, the permeation of the concept of lifelong education, and the socio-cultural background, clarifies some distinctive characteristics of education of older adults in two different societies. Such factor analysis is useful in seeking indications for further development of education of older adults and also in exploring the methods of comparative education.