Postgraduate education in gerontology in the Asia-Oceania region

This paper provides an overview of opportunities for graduate education in Gerontology in the Asia-Oceania Region. It locates emerging demand in a demographic context, highlighting high rates of growth in the aged population within the Region and growing awareness of governments of the need for appropriate planning. An important component of infrastructure development will be professional access to specialised education about ageing. Of postgraduate programs currently available, most are offered by Australian universities. The trend among providers is towards flexible delivery by distance education using a variety of models, including traditional print-based independent study, cross-national partnerships using block or blended teaching models, and predominantly online education. An innovative model developed by a leading local provider, The University of Sydney, is described. StudyAgeOnline is a Web-supported postgraduate coursework program in ageing and aged care for practising health professionals in which short courses can be undertaken as stand-alone modules or build towards a Masters degree. We describe a typical module and discuss how learning and teaching strategies have been designed for practical relevance in a multi-professional and multi-cultural "virtual classroom."