ABSTRACT
The basic idea behind the term ‘lifelong learning’ is simple. It is that deliberate learning can and should occur throughout each person’s lifetime. The term ‘lifelong education appeared in English language writings about 75 years ago, and many of the main contemporary ideas about lifelong education were stated immediately after the Second World War. Recently there has been a renewed peak of interest at the level of international policy-making bodies. The European Union designated 1996 ‘the year of lifelong learning’. The 1996 report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century adopted ‘learning throughout life’ as its key concept. Higher education merits special study because of its particular importance in helping to develop and implement a system of lifelong education, and thus provide the necessary organizational framework for lifelong learning.
