ABSTRACT

The case for the development of a lifelong learning system in higher education is as strong socially as it is economically. Frank Coffield and Bill Williamson put succinctly one important aspect of this argument:’… the modern economic imperative— that dominant discourse of gaining a competitive edge over “rivals” who used to be called “trading partners” — tells only half the story. It needs to be matched by a democratic imperative, which argues that a learning society worthy of the name ought to deliver social cohesion and social justice as well as economic prosperity to all its citizens’ (Coffield and Williamson, 1997, pp. 2–3). Much of this section pursues this theme.