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The current synthesis study was conducted to locate comprehensive perspectives about the transformation of higher education institutions from being the only places where formal education programs are offered into settings where lifelong learning can be integrated. This demands an inquiry through not only instance investigation but also a more comprehensive evidence upsurge which has great importance in obtaining lessons and drawing conclusions from existing facts to show how higher education institutions can be places where lifelong learning is promoted for the good of both individuals and societal advancement.

Using a meta-synthesis methodology, a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in the area of higher education institutions' role in promoting lifelong learning was synthesized.

The study identified wide-ranging lifelong learning conceptualizations, potential beneficiaries, learning contents and ways of delivery that can be applied in higher education institutions. Furthermore, the practical challenges, partnership and coordination concerns and policy and reform issues towards promoting lifelong learning were addressed.

This meta-synthesis provides crucial evidence for higher education policymakers and practitioners seeking to guide the transformation of their institutions into settings where lifelong learning is integrated with other forms of educational programs, thereby optimizing individual's professional development and societal progress.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 aimed at ensuring an inclusive, equitable, quality education, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. However, this may not be effectively realized, as this chapter demonstrates, through formal learning or education alone. Rather, an adoption of non-formal and informal learning alongside formal learning is more likely to empower the general population to contribute toward the development of a sustainable society. This chapter therefore critically examines the concepts of lifelong learning and the learning society and suggests that community learning, or study circles, can be a promising institutional medium for the promotion of adult and lifelong learning. The rationale for establishing a study circle as a medium for lifelong learning is demonstrated through case studies from Zimbabwe and Sweden. This follows by comparing and contrasting the ways in which Sweden and Zimbabwe promote lifelong learning for all.

This study aims to conduct a quantitative meta-analysis of previous research on lifelong vocational education to generate generalized conclusions about its effects, set directions for future lifelong vocational education and identify implementation measures.

To conduct a meta-analysis on research results that have a heterogeneous distribution, it is important to specify the analysis category for examining the effects of research variables.

First, lifelong vocational education has an effect on dependent variables. And action appears to have the highest effect size on dependent variables. Next, when calculating the size of variables that had an effect on lifelong vocational education by educational type, the effect size of informal education was found to be larger than that of formal education. Finally, regarding the effect on the participants, office workers were influenced most, followed by university students, North Korean defectors, job seekers and foreigners.

Although this study attempted to conduct an in-depth analysis of subcomponents, it was not possible to analyze variables at a more detailed level. Therefore, future studies should aim to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of different variables based on a wider composition. Because lifelong vocational education is relevant to people’s daily lives, it should be investigated in the context of their personal characteristics and social backgrounds.

This research was designed to uncover general effects of lifelong vocational education and discover relevant variables affecting lifelong vocational education in South Korea. A meta-analysis of 15 studies with 67 subgroups examining lifelong vocational education was conducted.

In the current era of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity), lifelong vocational education needs to be organized systematically, unlike in the past. With the rapid advancements in technology influenced by artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution, there is a surge in social demands for continued reeducation and redevelopment of employees to prepare for talent development paradigm innovation, increasing unemployment among unskilled workers and competence enhancement needs among job seekers and employed individuals.

This study aims to conduct a quantitative meta-analysis of previous research on lifelong vocational education to draw generalized conclusions on its effectiveness and discuss its implications for implementation measures. Specifically, this study will analyze the general effect size; differences in the effect size among different dependent variable groups; and the effect size based on lifelong vocational education participants.

Lifelong learning has become one of the most interesting areas of research. Hence, the current study was aimed at developing and validating a tool that helps to study how well people working in higher education institutions are engaged in lifelong learning.

A review of theories in the literature and experts' consultation were used to develop a pool of items and validate the self-assessment instrument for measuring lifelong learning. The study employed factor analytic methodologies such as principal component analysis, varimax rotation and exploratory factor analyses.

The study yielded a reliable and valid lifelong learning measurement scale made up of 18 items and four underlying factors that are theoretically supported.

The significant information is that, the current study aimed at developing a tool that could help to measure the engagement in lifelong learning of higher education institutions workers. The study found this tool to be important because lifelong learning is considered essential for personal and professional growth, and having a sound way to measure it can help individuals and organizations identify areas for improvement.

As aging populations lead to longer working lives and increasing automation threatens job security, maintaining lifelong employability is becoming a fundamental challenge for many individuals. The purpose of this study is to examine how lifelong employability can be maintained.

Based on the theoretical perspectives of both movement capital and selection, optimization and compensation (SOC) theories, we used large-scale survey data (N = 2,256) from three European countries to investigate strategies for preserving employability among aging workers. Specifically, we explored the perceived risk of automation, lifelong learner characteristics and self-efficacy for occupational mobility as boundary conditions that may shape the negative relationship between age and employability.

We found a negative relationship between age and employability, which was more pronounced when the perceived risk of automation was higher. Furthermore, lifelong learner characteristics and self-efficacy for occupational mobility mitigated the negative relationship, so that age was not related to employability if people possessed lifelong learner characteristics and were ready for a career change.

Our study implies the importance of investing in enhancing lifelong learner characteristics and self-efficacy for occupational mobility for older employees.

Lifelong learning has gained significant research attention world over because of its potential to enhance and ensure continuous employability. However, role of higher education institute as a learning organization to develop lifelong learning attitudes among young adults has not been discussed much. Parameters that determine lifelong learning among working professionals or school-going children may differ from that of prospective managers studying in business schools. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have given guidelines on learning organization in higher education context which has not been empirically tested. The present study aims to develop a scale on learning organization based on the OECD guideline. It also aims to explore the impact of learning organization and learning processes on lifelong learning attitude in Indian business schools.

The present study develops a multidimensional scale to measure business schools’ perceived level of performance as a learning organization from the perspective of faculty. The scale considers a learning organization as a multidimensional second-order construct comprising organizational climate for learning, leadership support for knowledge exchange, support for innovation, applied research environment and vision communication. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) has been used to refine and validate the scale. The study also assesses the impact of business schools’ performance as learning organization on perceived learning processes and lifelong learning attitude from the perspective of business school students by using structural equation modeling.

The study reveals that a learning organization is characterized by organizational climate for learning, leadership support for knowledge exchange, support for innovation, applied research environment and vision communication. Learning organization determines both perceived learning processes (ß = 0.397) and lifelong learning attitude (ß = 0.259). The relationship between learning organization and lifelong learning partially mediates through learning processes (Sobel’s statistics = 1.82, p-value = 0.068, indirect effect = 29%). Lifelong learning is characterized by self-regulated reflective learning with knowledge gained through various sources including virtual sources.

Literature adequately speaks about various scales on learning organization, but there is no specific scale developed, so far, for higher education institutes. Thus, the unique contribution of the present study is the development of a new scale on learning organization based on OECD guidelines on higher education. The scale has been developed based on survey of faculty members and students of Indian business schools. The scale can be used to assess academicians’ perception toward effectiveness of a learning organization. Such information would help in formulating strategies on what should be the characteristics of teaching–learning process, knowledge acquisition and knowledge dissemination to ensure lifelong learning and continuous employability.

Despite the widely recognised importance of lifelong learning, there are mixed results on its causal economic impact. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how economic conditions change the composition of participants in non-formal lifelong learning and whether the business cycle is relevant for the impact of non-formal lifelong learning on employability.

Non-linear decomposition techniques and matching estimators based on multidimensional covariates are applied to the Spanish sample of the European Adult Education Survey. The analysis controls for background, human capital and personal traits and draws a distinction between unemployed and employed workers.

The results show major differences in the volume and composition of participants before and during the Great Recession. In addition, there is a business cycle dependence of the effectiveness of non-formal lifelong learning that varies with the individual labour market situation. While lifelong learning proves more effective for the unemployed in recessions, for the employed the impact is greater in expansions.

The paper provides new evidence on the scant results of the moderating effect of the business cycle on the impact of lifelong learning. The analysis is not restricted to training implemented within public programmes, but rather extends to any kind of non-formal lifelong learning undertaken by unemployed and employed workers. In this sense, the analysis provides information about the optimal moment to invest in lifelong learning from both the policymaker and individual as well as firm perspective.

This research attempts to reveal ways of addressing challenges in open universities related to empowering lifelong learning; establishing policies and strategies in dropouts, student portfolio and support services for students with special needs; and implementing online instructional design and strategies. Two institutions were investigated, namely National Open University (NOU) Taiwan and Universitas Terbuka (UT) Indonesia, both founded in the 1980s to serve lifelong learners with diverse backgrounds and needs. This study was aimed at understanding good practices and challenges for improvement for the two open universities in those areas being investigated.

This research was qualitative using document analysis along with focus group discussions and interviews with administrators, academic staff, students and alumni to collect data for analysis.

Lifelong learning is the necessity of individual in societies for continuing professional development through enabling access to quality university education. Open universities have been tasked to cater for lifelong learners using non-traditional approaches, new technology and adapting to online learning and teaching in digital age. This research was exploratory, and the findings were expected to improve understanding of lifelong learning in open universities, particularly in NOU and UT.

Findings of this research are relevant to open universities to enhance its missions and define its possible new roles to serve lifelong learners.

This research reveals the roles of open universities in lifelong learning and enhances understanding of open universities that have a wide range of responsibilities in offering programs and courses to accommodate lifelong learners.

Graduates' attitudes towards learning, although subject to change, is a crucial indicator of their understanding and involvement in lifelong learning activities. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether lifelong learning enhances human capital worth to predict perceived employability. An enquiry into the attitudinal differences on lifelong learning among male and female students was also looked into.

An empirical examination using Warp-PLS was conducted on the propositions among 286 engineering graduate students in Kerala, India, from January 2020 to March 2020.

The Warp-PLS examination reveals a positive association between lifelong learning and perceived employability and warrants the mediating role of lifelong learning in the association between human capital and perceived employability. A gendered variation on attitudinal differences towards lifelong learning is also looked into, and no difference between males and females is found.

The impact of lifelong learning on employability has been conceptually discussed before. This paper is the first attempt to empirically prove the same with a proper theoretical explanation.