Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung Älterer in Zeiten der COVID-19-Pandemie – Sichtweisen von Teilnehmenden an „Studieren ab 50“ der Universität Magdeburg

This article examines the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic by participants in post-professional academic continuing education using the example of the program “Studying over 50” at University of Magdeburg and asks to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic leads to disadvantages in educational participation in this area. It thus takes two perspectives on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the field of continuing education that have been little considered so far: a) the view of participants and b) the field of post-professional scientific continuing education. The analyses are based on a survey of current and former participants in continuing education in the summer semester of 2021 (N 302, response rate 33.3%). (Multinomial) logistic regression analyses are used to investigate the factors that influence the participation in continuing education in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is shown that participation-related factors, such as the evaluation of previous participation experiences, and pandemic-related aspects, such as the fear of infection, play an important role. The article discusses the results in the context of the future design of post-professional scientific continuing education programs.