Public Open University Zagreb – University of the Third Age, Croatia
Pučko otvoreno učilište Zagreb
Sveučilište za treću životnu dob
Ulica grada Vukovara 68
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
The Public Open University Zagreb (POUZ) is the largest, non-profit adult education institution in the Republic of Croatia. Its tradition goes far back to the year 1907, when Dr. Albert Bazala initiated the idea of establishing a public university, while the first lectures started in 1912. The POUZ has witnessed dramatic times of Croatian history, thus being under influence of changing political and economic circumstances. Nevertheless, its mission to meet the need for adult education has been continuing for over 100 years. The founders of the POUZ are the city of Zagreb.
Nowadays it has 300 educational programs, 20,000 students per year and 500 teachers and trainers. It offers a broad spectrum of educational programs – starting from elementary and secondary school programs, continuing to higher education, as well as trainings, including vocational training and retraining. In addition, there are activities and programs connected with culture and publishing. As an educational institution, we are open to all the people who are either starting their vocational training or participating in professional development courses as well as ‘third age’ students.
University of the Third Age (UTA) is a department within the Public Open University. This program started in 1992 under the initiative of Dr. Maja Špan, professor at the Andragogy Department at the Faculty of Philosophy Zagreb and Jasna Čurin, who is now the head of the UTA.
It specializes in non-formal education by offering senior citizens a range of courses in foreign languages, IT-skills, lectures and workshops about history, art, health, etc. There are about 1300 students organized in 90 educational groups. UTA has participated in some international conferences and its students have undertaken several study visits to similar educational institutions in Europe. The closest and longest cooperation is the one with the UTA in Ljubljana.
Our partner in this project i European house Vukovar. Its strategic goal is to enforce peace in eastern Europe ant to prepare its population for the integration in EU.
Website: www.pou.hr
Contact
Jasna Čurin and Gordana Radonić
Tel: +385 1 6003 043
Fax: +385 1 6003 080 or +385 1 6003 049
E-mail: kultura@pou.hr, jasna.curin@pou.hr
E-mail: gogarad@yahoo.com
