This paper reports the findings of a study that had examined the operations of open schools for out-of-secondary-school youth and adults in Tanzania. Its objective was to establish the practicality of the policy guidelines in guiding the operations of open schools and the emerging controversies and dynamics in their daily operations. This…

This research aims to (1) study the current state and needs of the community to enhance participation in Community Learning centres (CLCs) in Cambodia, and (2) consider the required coverage of guidelines to enhance community participation in CLCs. The research utilized a mixed-method design which conducted a survey with a sample of 28 CLC…

This article analyses and identifies the extent to which the different pre- and post-independence typologies of governance in Benin have facilitated the promotion of lifelong learning as instrument for development. Relying on the thematic content analysis method, the article identifies three themes and three main typologies of governance spanning…

This paper explores the characteristics of learning festivals and Adult Learners' Weeks and their use as tools of advocacy in seeking policy change on behalf of under-represented groups, and it considers their impact on public policy affecting adult learners. In addition, it reflects on the role of the week in celebrating a culture of adult…

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has required faculty and students to adapt to an unprecedented challenge and rapidly transition from traditional face-to-face instruction to distance learning formats through virtual classrooms. While most campuses trained faculty to ensure quality and maintenance of the curriculum through virtual classrooms,…

In a rapidly changing context, US institutions of higher education are struggling amidst myriad pressures related, for example, to funding, accountability, standardisation and technology. In particular, pressures on 'progressive' or non-traditional colleges are immense. These schools, which have historically emphasised individualised,…

This paper focuses on recognition of prior learning as part of a national policy based on European Union guidelines for lifelong learning, and it explains how recognition of prior learning has been perceived since it was implemented in Portugal in 2000. Data discussed are the result of a mixed method research project that surveyed adult learners,…

Long-term demographic trends, combined with low productivity and pressure on public finances have set in place the preconditions for a major revolution in public services. Governments face new demands including for security which will lead to more centralization, but social and environmental services for a more complex society call for greater…

This chapter looks into the changing contexts and definitions of clienteles of lifelong learners over the last quarter of a century. The author has been involved in three closely related studies on who lifelong learners are, how they access and participate in higher education (HE), and how and what are they learning in HE and summarises some of…

The authors show ways in which Jarl Bengtsson, a Swedish social scientist and policy analyst, has influenced international policy making. As a member and later director of the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation from the beginning of the 1970s to the end of the twentieth century, he has contributed to the international discussion…

When we think of communities of the future, we have to think of new social contracts between universities and society with a different ecology, and an intense compatibility towards transdisciplinarity. We know that today there is a need for truly fundamental reflections and questions on knowledge as the building block of global societies…

The argument of this paper is that--within a wide range of university responses to the challenge of outreach--there grew up in the extra-mural or adult education departments of many UK universities an alternative epistemological paradigm to the older and more traditional extension programmes. This paradigm threatened the extension approach and has…

It is clear that there is a wide range of arguments that reflect varying degrees of disaffection with the university worldwide. A great deal of understandable effort is directed at the impact of globalisation, especially the way it is making universities engage in academic capitalism (Slaughter and Leslie, 1997). The alternative arguments…

For almost a century, Longwy has been one of the most important industrial areas of France, contributing the majority of the national production of cast iron and steel. The objective of this paper is to analyse how higher education, then health and well-being were mobilised in the process of regeneration of Longwy, which had been very harshly…

Making lifelong learning a reality has been a recurring theme within European policy making. Increasing participation of adults can help overcome various Europe-wide challenges, amongst others, skills redundancy, the high number of low-skilled workers in Europe, the high level of early school leaving, and literacy and numeracy difficulties. In…