LIFELONG LEARNING AS A STRATEGY FOR EDUCATING GLOBAL CITIZENS WITHIN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Recent research emphasizes the need for education on global citizenship (GC) within higher education (Davis, Evans & Reid, 2005; Ibrahim, 2008; Schultz, 2007). However, GC is an illdefined concept (Schultz, 2007) and its position in university policies is unclear (Holvoet, 2007). Therefore, the GC concept is difficult to implement within universities’ educational practice (Fullan, 2002; Hargreaves & Goodson, 2006). In order to overcome possible impediments, the reported research aimed at elucidating visions of policy makers on the role of higher education institutes with regard to positioning GC in society. The findings resulted from a two round Delphi inquiry and in-depth interviews with 20 key figures in the field of academic policy making in five Flemish universities, representatives of the Flemish government’s education department and members of GC education agencies. Respondents reported two components as basic conditions for universities to educate their students as global citizens: the need for a reflexive learning approach and an international learning environment. Conditions and difficulties in creating such environments were distinguished. As lifelong learning is defined as “a way of empowering people for active engagement with important personal, social and global issues” (European Commission, 2001), this concept is considered as appropriate to supply a framework for GC.

Keywords

• global citizenship, higher education

References

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