There can no longer be any doubt that adult education within lifelong learning is a key factor for economic and social development, as well as being a human right. New policies for adult education must now result in coherent forms of laws and legislation clearly spelling out ways and means for financing adult education. These must involve the…

Lifelong learning is a powerful concept and perspective for transforming education systems and enabling learning societies. Developed in the advanced industrialised North, it is now being considered in poor countries where Education for All is a main educational preoccupation. The meaning of lifelong learning is confused and contested, caught up…

The language of the world of learning is popularised, trivialised and reduced in the meaning of some central terms and concepts. Much of the new communities and cities and social capital language of learning comes from a disinterested search for understanding, but too much is also innocent about social structures and political power, reluctant to…

Universities are--and must remain--special and different, apart and yet central to the world. They must sustain educational purposes and share their roles and purposes with institutions such as technical colleges, organizations, and diverse communities. (JOW)

The metaphor of the learning society is in danger of being reduced to recurrent education and training for vocational skills, focused on the learning of individuals. What is lost is a focus on how societies learn and adapt or fail. (SK)

Discusses the distinction between education and learning and their relationship to active citizenship. Addresses the role of universities and adult education in providing a second chance for second class citizens. (SK)

Following a change in British government funding of university research, 42 of 63 institutions submitted proposals in continuing education, 26 projects were funded in 14 universities, only 3 of 32 continuing vocational education projects were funded, and 24 of these were reclassified as development projects, as were a high proportion of other…

Changes in the University Funding Council in Britain have thrust continuing education research into prominence. Changes may occur in the kind of scholarly community that will form, as well as the content and style of research, and conflict between traditional university research and research driven by social commitment and purpose. (SK)

A consultation between industry and education representatives in Great Britain explored dimensions of partnerships for the education and training of young people beyond compulsory schooling age. Because lifelong learning was deemed essential, adult continuing education stands to gain much from closer and more effective partnership with industry.…

Some issues raised by this review of recent literature on crisis and change in higher education are whether liberal education will survive, whether systemic changes will benefit adult learners, how labor-intensive higher education can survive in a technological era, and whether access for working-class and other underserved groups will be…