Geopolitical, Social Security and Freedom Journal, Volume 2 Issue 1, 2019 11 The senior universities students in Portugal and Brazil Luis Jacob Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal - Email: luisjacob@ipb.pt Valéria Lisa Pontifica Universidade Católica de Goiás, Brazil - Email: lisavaleria.pucgoias@gmail.com Ricardo Pocinho Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal - Email: pocinho@hotmail.com Doi: 10.2478/gssfj-2019-0002 Abstract: Given the growth in the number of senior universities in Portugal and Brazil, we think it is important to know the audience which frequents these institutions, their motivations, the health impact and whether there are significant differences between the two countries. The authors have created a survey that was applied in person in Portugal and the State of Goiás in Brazil. With this study, it was possible to trace the profile of the students who attend the Senior Universities (US or U3A) in Portugal and universities open to Seniors (UNATI) in Brazil. We also added a study on volunteer teachers in the Portuguese US. We now know that are essentially women, aged 60-75 years and of all social and educational levels. As for the motives are essentially the conviviality, get active and learn. No significant differences were found between the two countries, in groups and in the motivations, with exception to the marital status and the number of courses attended. Keywords: Senior University, non-formal education, lifelong learning, senior students, depression, U3A 1. Introduction With the current and progressive ageing of the population in the West, in Portugal over the past three decades and more recently in Brazil, the theme of Senior University (US) is of particular relevance due to the current ageing of the population, the emergence of active aging and the importance of lifelong learning, as well as the need to increase literacy in the elderly. The education for the elderly has been the subject of several investigations and are currently accepted two complementary theories: one that conceives education as a strategy of "social therapy", promoting and encouraging the social integration (and in this case the education is an instrument for the promotion and social integration), the second perspective understands that a better ageing