On April 11-12, 2018, “Bright Ideas on Education for the Aged” International Seminar 2018 was held in Shanghai. This event was launched to meet the relevant requirements of the National Plan for the Development of Elderly Education (2016-2020) and for further strengthening international cooperation. The specific purpose of this activity is to upgrade the level of our theoretical research on elderly education and to get closer to the international standard in this aspect. The seminar focused on the comparative study of the models of elderly education in China, France, Britain and other countries, and on development research and some special topics. The event was co-sponsored by the International Liaison Department of China Association of Universities for the Aged (CAUA) and by Shanghai University for the Elderly. It was arranged by Shanghai Academy of Elderly Education.
 
Those who participated in the seminar included Zhang Xiaolin (President of China Association of Universities for the Aged [CAUA]) and Luo Shiqian (former Deputy Secretary of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee).
 
On this occasion, a ceremony for unveiling the CAUA International Research Center for Senior Education (IRCSE) was also held. Yu Lijuan (Secretary of the Party Committee for Coordinating Shanghai Education and Public Health Affairs) and Lu Jing (Director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission) were present at the ceremony.
 
About 200 officials and scholars altogether attended the seminar. These guests were respectively from the Chinese Ministry of Education, China Association of Universities for the Aged (CAUA), Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, International Association of Universities for the Third Aged (AIUTA), Shanghai University for the Elderly, Shanghai Association of Elderly Education, as well as elderly education institutions of many other provinces and cities in China. Francois Vellas (President of AIUTA), Maria Chester (Secretary-General of AIUTA), and a dozen of other elderly education experts from France, Britain, Portugal, Italy, and the United States were invited to attend the seminar as well.
 
Li Xuanhai, President of Shanghai University for the Elderly and President of Shanghai Academy of Elderly Education, presided over the opening ceremony of the seminar. Lin Yuanhe, the First Vice President of AIUTA and Vice President CAUA, announced that CAUA had decided to set up an “International Research Center for Senior Education” (IRCSE). This center would be located in Shanghai University for the Elderly, and would become an important platform for the international exchanges of elderly education in Shanghai.

 
At the seminar, four experts from China and other relevant countries successively introduced the models of elderly education in France, China, United Kingdom, as well as elderly education in Shanghai. Representatives from China’s Hubei Province, Zhejiang Province, Guizhou Province, and Tianjin Municipality respectively introduced their experiences in managing elderly education in each of their regions. Seminar participants had had a warm discussion on relevant topics. The guests also visited a few elderly universities both at city and district levels in Shanghai.
 
Through exchanges and discussions, the seminar finally formulated and issued a document of “2018 Oriental Consensus on Education for the Elderly”. The Consensus emphasized that “promoting people’s well-being” had now become the main trend of global social development. We should make sure that, in future, the elderly people could live a decent life, could have a good medical care, could do something that is truly meaningful, could receive further education, and could enjoy a happy twilight life. This is the bright vision of the future society.