HOVO offers courses at an academic level to people above fifty. It is aimed at those who like to explore a new field of science, to pick up an old scientific hobby or to keep up with the newest developments in their own field of science.

In short: it is meant for those who don’t want to give up their eagerness for new knowledge. There is no formal prequalification required to inscribe for the courses. It is however assumed that through their life experience and previous studies the students are able to work and think at an academic level. At the moment there are 16 HOVO institutions in the Netherlands, together totalling some 25,000 students.

HOVO Nederland

In 1990 the HOVO institutes set up a national federation, the “Landelijke Vereniging voor Hoger Onderwijs Voor Ouderen”, HOVO-Nederland. HOVO-Nederland’s objective is to promote the participation of older people in education of all sorts, but especially in higher education. HOVO-Nederland stimulates the institutions of higher education to create organisations for the higher education for older people and to support these organisations effectively. On a national level HOVO-Nederland tries to bring Higher Education for older people to the attention of the Ministry of Education and Science in order to have its position in ‘Lifelong Learning’ both acknowledged and established.

HOVO-Nederland is a member of two international organisations:
AIUTA (Association Internationale des Universités du Troisième Age), a worldwide organisation of institutions involved in higher education for older people
EFOS (European Federation of Older Students at Universities), an organisation of older students aiming to advance the higher education for older people in the European Union.
HOVO-Nederland also forms part of the worldwide LiLLWeb:
Learning in Later Life.

At eight HOVO institutions so called “Vriendenkringen” have been formed by the senior students. They are also members of HOVO-Nederland. The eight “Vriendenkringen” together form the “Landelijke Vereniging van Vriendenkringen van HOVO-Nederland”, a national federation of older students.

Main office HOVO-Nederland
Postbus 1287
6501 BG Nijmegen
Tel.: 0031 24 361 19 77
Fax: 0031 24 361 61 54
e-mail: info@hovo-nederland.org
Office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon from15.00 to 17.30.