ABSTRACT
In accordance with the global economic interest in preparing human resources appropriate to a knowledge-based economy, Mexico has adopted the concept of lifelong learning and its associated ideas; in doing so, the country has acted under the assumption (promoted by international organizations) that lifelong learning is an important factor in stimulating employment, economic development, democracy, and social cohesion (OECD 1996; UNESCO 1996; World Bank 2003). Along those lines, several educational institutions and agents are interested in achieving better indicators in learning, offering more educational opportunities, and promoting training rooted in lifelong learning. Regarding higher education, various policies and programs converge with some aspects of lifelong learning: policies concerning the broadening of educational coverage, the creation of new public institutions, the recent reforms to student-centered educational models, the installation of tutoring as a formal space for accompanying students during their educational careers, some programs regarding student mobility, degree equivalence and the recognition of prior learning, as well as the expansion of the not-on-site or semi-on-site educational offering. However, there is no unified approach orienting these reforms and resources toward the construction of a coordinated system of institutions and programs. The expansion of coverage is a far cry from the universalization of higher education that is required in order to foster an educational system governed by lifelong learning principles, and the reforms to educational models do not seem to have produced the desired results in terms of a solid development of students’ autodidactic abilities (the key to lifelong learning).
