Objectives: 

To perform a descriptive analysis on the courseload of Physiology in the Nau Gran (NG) curriculum and explore the participation and characteristics of the students.

Materials: 

NG at the Universitat de València (UV-EG) is a program for people over 55 years. It began in 1999 with 70 students to promote intra and intergenerational relationships and facilitate the development of autonomous learning. Currently 1620 students are enrolled in 286 subjects offered in 9 different itineraries. With 75 credits (3 years) students get an NG Certificate and adding another 50 credits, an NG Title Specialization. In the Itinerary of Health Sciences (IHS) is the misnamed General Physiology (GP) -should be called Fundamentals of Human Physiology, e.g.-. GP is a 2 credits subject with theoretical content (10h) such as: introduction to cell physiology, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, renal, nervous and endocrine physiology; and practical contents (10h) as: blood pressure, cardiac auscultation, experimental methods, spirometry, lung auscultation, nutrition and dietetics, and motor and sensory exploration.

Results: 

GP represents 8% of the total of the courseload during the first year of IHS and 2.67% of the total itinerary. The mean participation in the last six courses was 56 students (women=67%, men=33%), 89% of them were rated as "pass" and 11% did not complete the attendance required (≥80%). During the last year (2011-12), the mean age was 63±5 years (75% from the Comunitat Valenciana and 25% from other origins). 72% had at least one high degree education (PhD=5%, Undergraduate degree=78%, No college=17%) and the remaining (28%) had none. Evaluations from the students and the evaluation unit show that GP is highly appreciated (data not shown).

Conclusions: 

NG is an alternative training program for students over 55 years at the UV-EG with great acceptance by the general population. Although GP as a knowledge area has a small courseload, is an attractive subject for the students in the HIS of the NG curriculum.