The festive event in honour of the life jubilee of Prof Dr Ana Krajnc, hosted by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana, which was co-organised by the Slovenian Third Age University, has brought together younger and a little less young people, academics and practitioners, representatives of various institutions and influencers, adult education teachers and adult educators, professors and graduates, domestic and foreign participants. It is one of the few meetings in our field, where we have through publication of two substantial journals celebrated the work of the distinguished Professor Dr Ana Krajnc, “the ambassador of Yugoslav and Slovenian andragogy”[1].
In introductory speeches, Prof Dr Roman Kuhar, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Andrej Sotošek, MSc, Director of the SIAE and Alijana Šantej, President of the Slovenian Third Age University in Ljubljana, each from their point of view shed light on the work of the honoured academic. The individual important areas of her professional path were in more detail emphasised by the participants of the round table. Dr Petra Javrh (SIAE) and Prof Dr Sonja Kump (Faculty of Arts) spoke about research – the former on the importance of functional literacy research, while the latter highlighted the importance of the Centre for Development of University of Ljubljana that Dr Krajnc headed in the early 1990s, and was ingloriously disbanded in 1994 as a “dry branch that needed to be cut off”. With their contribution, Dr Zoran Jelenc (SAEA) and Jasna Čurin Pučko (Open University Zagreb) cut in the international arena and showed a wide horizon of Prof Krajnc outside our borders while taking care of our environment. Innovative ideas have attracted numerous imitators from nearby and distant neighbourhoods, which some participants at the event expressed with gratitude. Dr Dušana Findeisen spoke about the development of Slovenian Third Age University, in which, even today, after thirty-five years, they strive to overcome stereotypes about age, listen to people and goings-on in the society and respond to them.
With many supporters and colleagues, Prof Dr Ana Krajnc paved the way to many pores of the narrower and wider social space. It is no coincidence that the editors of the ‘One has to dare to defend one’s values: Liber amicorum’ journal chose for the cover illustration a leaf with minute veins, through which flow juices that contribute to its vividness.
The crowded hall also showed that such meetings are necessary. Moreover, they are precious mainly because historical memory is transferred to younger generations. This willingness to learn today seems logical to them and an obvious choice for adults which, however, was not so a few decades ago. And it was at that time that the very Prof Dr Ana Krajnc persuaded people that adults can learn and that they should believe in this. Nowadays we even believe that adult education is not just training for a profession and acquiring work-related knowledge, but that it far exceeds this framework.
Nevenka Kocijančič (nevenka.kocijancic@acs.si), SIAE
[1] This is recorded in a substantial publication titled Modern Paradigms of Exploring Adult Education and Learning and Education (in Slovenian). The publication of the monograph was also supported by SIAE, and several of our co-workers also contributed texts to it.
