lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

the system (Schuetze and Slowey: 3). This is evidence of a breaking down of the old agerelatedpatterns.The demands of the learners are also changing. With the continuing explosion ofknowledge and the breaking down of the old fixed patterns of employment, learners areincreasingly demanding a type of education that allows them to update their knowledgewhenever necessary and to go on doing so throughout their working lives. It is lessand less realistic to imagine that one can take a degree as a badge of employability, gointo a career and never return to education. Furthermore the traditional concept of adegree course — as a coherent and clearly defined programme of study at one institution— is being challenged. More and more learners want to pick and choose courses fromthe most suitable providers, as and when they need particular knowledge or expertiseaccording to the needs of the job market. In response to this, many commercial providershave entered the higher and further education market and their numbers are increasingsteadily. Many of these providers operate internationally, and this is coupled with theincreasing international mobility of students. In the face of these developments, thetraditional universities themselves are having to adapt, some more successfully thanothers, extending the range of educational services they provide and often reachingout to other parts of the world. This is creating new challenges and opportunities foruniversity departments catering for adult learners, such as that of Oxford, and for distanceuniversities, such as the Korea National Open University, India’s Indira Gandhi NationalOpen University, Britain’s Open University and Turkey’s Anadolu University. However,universities are increasingly having to recognise they are only one part of a complexeducational tapestry. “Alongside the schools, the work place and the community, highereducation represents just one element in any strategy for achieving the objective oflifelong learning for all.” (Schuetze and Slowey: 7)All of these developments are closely intertwined with the most striking developmentof all: the phenomenal growth of information and communication technologies. Theseare having a profound effect at all levels of education, including traditional universityprogrammes, but they arguably benefit the lifelong learner particularly, as Mary Thorpepoints out in the third chapter of this book, dealing with the impact of ICTs on lifelonglearning. Most lifelong learners face time, mobility and financial constraints because oftheir career and family circumstances. Now, given the right computer technology, theycan create a flexible learning timetable, attend seminars and tutorials from their desks athome and access much of the study material they need online. ICTs can also significantlyreduce the cost of a university programme. At the same time ICTs give rise to newproblems, not least the so-called digital divide. “As things stand at present, a new divide,between the “info rich” and the “info poor” is added to the traditional divide betweenthe “haves” and the “have-nots”. It is estimated that 400 million people use the Internetbut this represents just 7 per cent of the world’s population.” (UNESCO, 2004: 7-8)Increasing access to ICTs must therefore be an integral part of any effective global highereducation strategy.ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF DISTANCE ANDLIFELONG LEARNINGWhile globalisation, ICTs and other developments are forcing rapid changes in highereducation, there are certain more perennial issues that remain relevant. In the fieldof lifelong learning and distance education, one of the questions that arises is whatmodel or models of distance and lifelong learning are appropriate, as these models3