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15 juin 2014

Bologna Process - Work Programme - Lifelong learning (LLL)

Bologna Process - European Higher Education AreaCLifelong Learning has been recognised as an essential element of the European Higher Education Area since the Ministers met in Prague in 2001.  The Prague Communiqué signals that in a Europe built on a knowledge-based society and economy, lifelong learning strategies are necessary to face the challenges of competitiveness and the use of new technologies, and to improve social cohesion, equal opportunities and quality of life.
Since then, there has been growing awareness of the need to embed lifelong learning within higher education, if we are to meet the challenges of the future.  This includes the particular challenges arising from the changing demography of EHEA.
Increasingly, lifelong learning is seen as a cross cutting issue, inherent in all aspects of the Bologna Process. The following steps were deemed necessary for the implementation of lifelong learning:
   

* widening access to higher education;
   
* creating more flexible, student-centred modes of delivery;
   
* improving the recognition of prior learning, including non-formal and informal learning;
   
* developing national qualifications frameworks;
*improving cooperation with employers, especially in the development of educational programmes;

The 2007 London Communiqué reports that some elements of flexible learning exist in most countries, but a more systematic development of flexible learning paths to support lifelong learning is at an early stage. Ministers have therefore asked the Bologna Follow-up Group to increase the sharing of good practice and work towards a common understanding of the role of higher education in lifelong learning.
The Leuven/Louvain-La-Neuve Communiqué further specified the concept of lifelong learning, stating “lifelong learning implies that qualifications may be obtained through flexible learning paths, including part-time studies, as well as work-based routes”. The Ministers also acknowledged that successful policies for lifelong learning would include basic principles and procedures for recognition of prior learning on the basis of learning outcomes.  Further on, the Ministers aimed to have national qualifications frameworks implemented and prepared for self-certification against the overarching Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area by 2012 (the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communiqué, 2009).
The 2012 Bucharest Communiqué  reaffirmed the role of lifelong learning as one of the important factors in meeting the needs of a changing labour market, and stressed the central role of higher education institutions in transferring knowledge and strengthening regional development, including by the continuous development of competences and reinforcement of knowledge alliances.
For the period 2012-2015, the Working Group on the Social Dimension and Lifelong Learning will address this policy area.

Lifelong Learning Charter
At its autumn conference in Rotterdam, EUA officially presented the new icon pdf document European Universities’ Charter on Lifelong Learning. The Charter, developed at the request of the French Prime Minister François Fillon, is based around a series of 10 commitments made by universities in addressing the development and implementation of lifelong learning strategies, with a set of matching commitments proposed for governments and regional partners. The Charter is also available in French.
On 26 November 2008, EUA President Georg Winckler presented the Charter at an informal meeting of the Ministers in charge of Vocational Education and Training and the Ministers in charge of Higher Education in the context of the French Presidency of the European Union (for more information consult the website of the French Presidency).

Links
Further background information on lifelong learning in the context of the European Higher Education Area can be found on the website of the European University Continuing Education Network.
Related projects
ALLUME ( A Lifelong Learning University Model for Europe)
The LLL perspective is the backbone of the European education and training strategy. This strategy has been reinforced by additional initiatives aiming to contribute to the results of surveys (Treds V, Beflex) show a contrasted situation between countries and institutions. There is no common understanding, no real commitment from a majority of rectors, no clear vision of what has to be done. However, the universities' commitment is crucial to reinforce the contribution of education and training to achieving the Lisbon objectives. Access and participation in HE of young generations but also of populations already engaged in working life is crucial. EUA presented in 2008 a ULLL Charter addressing the implementation of LLL strategies in HEIs. But a Charter is not enough. The challenge is now to make this Charter a reality. To carry out the Charter requires the elaboration of shared and integrated strategies at institutional level and the provision of flexible learning opportunities, organisations, and services. ALLUME intends to contribute in this implementation process on the basis of best practices at work in universities having already developed successful LLL strategies. ALLUME intends to define and promote guidelines to assist European universities to become LLL institutions.
For more information related to this project, please visit the website http://www.allume.eucen.eu/ or view theproject description.
OBSERVAL
OBSERVAL is a European project granted by the Leonardo da Vinci programme. EUCEN, the European University Continuing Education Network, is the leader of this project. Partners are teams in 24 countries of the European Union representing the different educational sectors (higher education, vocational education and training, adult education).
The main objective of this project is to create a database on validation of non formal and informal learning in European countries, which will be regularly updated, available in a European Observatory and accessible by Internet. The perspective is to provide documents useful for a large range of actors (decision makers at national and institutional level, social partners, human resources managers, people in charge of validation,…) which are usually confidential or limited in use and dissemination outside the country or the Region or the institution where they have been produced. The project aims at presenting them on common formats in a way that facilitates understanding and allows comparison.
For more information related to this project, please visit the website http://www.observal.org/. More...

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