University Engagement and the Post-2015 Agenda. What are the Roles and Functions to Support Adult Education and Lifelong Learning?

The global context of competitive mass higher education damages university support to adult education and lifelong learning (AE&LLL). Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had limited success, making this a crucial time for AE&LLL in the next global planning cycle commitment to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post-MDG. Adult educators and universities must both address the real needs of a stressed fast-changing world. Education and higher education are not closed systems, but we may lose sight of what they are for. What are the implications for AE&LLL of longevity and ageing, massive migration, and emergent ‘knowledge societies’? What about new socio-political and cultural challenges, threats of global warming, and finite natural resources? Individuals and social systems need lifelong learning more than ever, but policy-making favours metrics, quality and testing; what are the high-level policy objective? We confuse ‘education’ and ‘learning’, and are unclear what the difference means for AE&LLL policy. The roles of universities include basic and applied research on learning, learning needs, and the professional development of AE&LLL staff, and direct provision, and partnership with providers in their regions. Adults need equal priority with young learners. LLL delivered locally should be at the heart of new ideas about learning cities, regions and neighbourhoods. Can university leaders and their governments resist ‘world class’ league tables and provide world class fit-for-purpose higher education systems?