Lifelong learning sits high on the policy agendas of OECD countries, and in Europe the Bologna Process is expected to facilitate widened access to higher education. Disseminating the findings of funded studies carried out in overseas contexts, this seminar will focus on the under-examined role of HE in lifelong learning, and consider the extent to which policy is translated into practice, and with what effects.

 Higher education in Europe: how socially inclusive is it?

Dr Elisabet Weedon, University of Edinburgh

Alongside consideration of the social dimension of the Bologna Process’s development, and an overview of widening participation measures in EU member states drawn from Eurostat and Eurostudent data, Dr Weedon will present findings from research relating to a smaller number of European countries. She will reveal that, despite the harmonising efforts of EU policy in relation to opening up HE to lifelong learners, considerable variation occurs across the continent, where interpretations of ‘widening access’, and the compositions of target groups, vary from country to country.

Higher education and lifelong learning: the case of Ireland in international context

Professor Maria Slowey, Dublin City University, Republic of Ireland

As knowledge based organisations, universities and other tertiary institutions are called upon to contribute to a complex - often competing - array of educational, social and economic objectives. Lifelong learning is one arena in which the interaction of these various dimensions may be observed. Drawing on an analysis of developments (or lack thereof) in relation to opportunities for lifelong learners in 16 countries, Professor Slowey will highlight the case of HE in the Republic of Ireland.

Opening up higher education to new constituencies:

A European comparative study of lifelong learning in German universities

Professor Andrä Wolter, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

Though it used to be a very peripheral issue in German HE policy and development, lifelong learning seems – albeit gradually - to be being taken more seriously by the university sector. Drawing limited comparisons with other European contexts, Professor Wolter will analyse the driving forces behind this change of attitude in Germany, and the extent to which the process of opening up HE has increased heterogeneity and diversity in the composition of non-traditional students who are identified as lifelong learners.