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Senior Educational Programs to Compensate for Future Student Decline in German Universities

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Abstract

Most industrialized countries are currently facing a shrinking and aging population. Germany’s population is expected to fall from about 82 million people in 2008 to, at worst, 65 million people in 2060. Simultaneously, the average age of the population is increasing. In particular, the coming years in East Germany will be characterized by an expected strong decline in the number of young people and a significant increase in the number of elderly. However, demographic change does not automatically imply negative consequences but also creates room for opportunities. In this chapter, we explore opportunities to enlarge the purpose of the educational silver market by an economic component because of two developments (1) current and upcoming generations of seniors increasingly spend their spare time studying intellectual and cultural subjects, and (2) traditional universities will experience a shortage of students. We propose incentives to include more people aged 65 and over in educational issues, and thus to create a win-win situation for third agers and institutions of higher education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Economics, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany

    D. Schwarz, J. Steidelmüller & C. Hipp

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  1. D. Schwarz
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  2. J. Steidelmüller
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  3. C. Hipp
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Studies (DIJ), German Institute for Japanese, Kioicho 7-1, Tokyo, 102-0094, Japan

    Florian Kohlbacher

  2. AB Technologie-,Innovationsmanagement, TU Hamburg-Harburg, Schwarzenbergstr. 95, Hamburg, 21073, Germany

    Cornelius Herstatt

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Schwarz, D., Steidelmüller, J., Hipp, C. (2011). Senior Educational Programs to Compensate for Future Student Decline in German Universities. In: Kohlbacher, F., Herstatt, C. (eds) The Silver Market Phenomenon. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14338-0_33

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