French universities and lifelong learning policies : an opportunity for adult learners ?

Isabelle Borras (1, 2) , Nathalie Bosse (1, 2)

1 CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble
2 CEREQ - Centre d'études et de recherches sur les qualifications

Continuing training has been one of the goals of French universities since 1968. However, most have only weakly committed to this activity, and adult participation in higher education (HE) is not well developed in France. Can lifelong learning (LLL) policies driven by international bodies since the early 2000s make a difference ? By changing access to training and the content of training in order to establish continuity between initial education and continuing training, do LLL policies offer adults last-chance opportunities to attend open universities ? How are the boundaries between initial education and continuing training in HE (higher education) systems evolving in France and other countries ? By addressing these issues, our ambition is to understand whether adult participation in HE is currently developing.

Mots clés: higher education; lifelong learning; continuing training; adult learner; France

Domaines: Economies et finances

Isabelle Borras, Nathalie Bosse. French universities and lifelong learning policies : an opportunity for adult learners ?. 29th Sase annual meeting "What's next ? Disruptive/collaborative economy or business as usual ?", Society for the advancement of socio-economics; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Jun 2017, Lyon, France. 18 p. ⟨halshs-01844721⟩