The Impact of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning in the University - Essay Example

Lifelong learning includes many areas in education which can encompass fields of human resource management, the information revolution, and the knowledge economy. This fosters the personal development of the individual and can develop the community through improvement in individual knowledge. The setting for this kind of learning does not only include learning in formal settings such as the university but also the so-called ‘life-wide’ learning in informal settings, which includes the home, the work area, or the community. This is an explicit experience. Lifelong learning is a necessity nowadays because of the knowledge that we have to accumulate in a fast-changing world. The environment around us, the inventions and innovations, changes, and the activities that accompany all these phenomena need a lifetime to know and understand.

In the age of globalization, modern means of communication, and technology, there is the necessity and the driving force to acquire lifelong learning. We have to cope with the rapid change and the challenges posed by the information revolution. We cannot just rely on a small group of educated people, the small elite. Learning has made our society a civilized and advanced society. Learning enables people to play a full part in the community. Educational institutions have found this an opportunity for expansion.

They are providing lifelong learning, distance learning, and the virtual classroom as part of their mission and goals but also to enhance their profits. Continuing education can be implemented through technology such as the internet, television, cell phones, and other mobile communication systems. Prospective clients or students of continuing education are those who are newly graduated from college or the members of the labor force who have to improve their knowledge in the face of the growing demand of the knowledge economy. Institutions of higher learning promote their institutional facilities for continuing education in line with their mission and goals, for which they have aligned their marketing and corporate strategies.