We live in a society intensely structured by work. Throughout our life, the educational orientations, the place where we live or the social relations and openness to new cultural experiences are configured by the possibilities and constraints that come from the conditions of socioeconomic participation. What happens when we formally stop having that bond? Are the populations prepared to go on living at the time of retirement? This paper presents the results of a PhD research in sociology (developed under ISCTE-IUL, CIES-IUL), which highlights the social responsibility of the University in creating training responses that foster the reception of non-traditional student audiences. Specifically, this research is empirically focused on the experiences of students over 50 years of the Faculdade de Letras of the Universidade de Lisboa, enrolled in formal and non-formal education programs. In the students' narratives, regardless of the formative framework in which they are inserted, summary guidelines prevail in expressions such as "keep me active", "the desire to 'give voice' to deferred or unfinished life projects" or, simply, "Do not stop just because you're older." In this context, the questions that we are seeking to deepen here are: 1. What are the challenges facing the University in welcoming these (new) publics? 2. To what extent do the educational offerings and practices of education inside and outside the classroom materialize innovative responses of training and deepening of competences, and also promoters of new sociabilities? 3. What is the social responsibility of the University in an aging society?

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social responsibility,aging societies,students over 50

• Sociology - Social Sciences