Universities as Centres of Lifelong Learning

The author's basic thesis is that all properly conceived education is in fact continuing or lifelong education. It is democratic and liberating because it responds to the real needs of real people in society. Higher education today throughout the world is beset by crises and contradictions. While universities have so often served the interests of selfish self‐perpetuating élites, their implied or explicit educational message is all‐encompassing and democratic. Nothing better furthers the democratic aims of university education than open‐access continuing education that enriches culture and production while interlinking the two in a creative relationship. In fact, properly conceived and functioning continuing education encompasses all other forms of education, including initial training which has so often been viewed as a finality in itself and as a means for ensuring educational selection in the interests of the dominant class. If applied at the international level, continuing education properly conceived will lead to a far greater democratization of the relations among universities of different countries, one which will end the dominant/dominated syndrome; it will likewise permit a positive rather than a negative assimilation by the university of educational technology.

* The preparation of this article owes much to the collaboration of Mrs. Catherine Develotte.

Notes

* The preparation of this article owes much to the collaboration of Mrs. Catherine Develotte.