Education and Social Gerontology

The Bachelor’s Degree Course in Education and Social Gerontology was established by Ordinance 1382/2007 and began in the 2006/2007 academic year.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), between 1991 and 2001, the number of residents aged 65 or older increased by around 26.1%, while in the younger age groups (0-14 and 15-24), there was a decrease of 16.0% and 8.1%, respectively. Also, according to the same source, the Ageing Index is 108.7% and the Old-Age Dependency Ratio is 25.2%.

Considering data from international sources, the age structure of the Portuguese population will continue to change in the coming years. It is expected that the elderly population will outnumber the younger population between 2010 and 2015. These indicators clearly show the ageing trend of the Portuguese population, similar to the demographic changes occurring in the European Union and the USA.

The same sources predict that the elderly population in Portugal (those aged 65 or older) will exceed three million by 2050. This means that by then, 37% of the population will be 60 or older and 26% will be over 80 years old.

In this context, there is an urgent need to train technical professionals who can plan, implement and evaluate programmes and activities for age groups at social and educational risk, especially the older segments of the population Therefore, the rationale for this course hinges on two main reasons:

• The ageing index of the Portuguese population.
• The physical, social and psychological effects of the ageing phenomenon on the social and economic organisation of industrialised and computerised countries.