The University of the Third Age, U3A, is an organisation offering all kinds of educational, creative and leisure activities to older people not in full-time, gainful employment.
Members organise their own activities and use their skill and knowledge to form self-help groups.
No qualifications are required and none are awarded. However, some U3A's have no minimum age for membership and are pleased to accept as members all who are not in paid employment. This applies, for example, to younger people with responsibility for the home and family, to carers and people with disabilities. However, because of local conditions, Warrington U3A has decided to adopt a stricter age policy, see below. Age held in Toulouse in 1972.