EMERGING TRENDS IN LIFELONG LEARNING: THE COVENANT UNIVERSITY PERSPECTIVE

In the last few decades, lifelong concept of education has resonated with other concepts such as the knowledge society, new knowledge economy, open courseware, open source, wikieconomics, and technology enabled learning. Embedded in all of these concepts and emerging from them is the notion that access to knowledge and learning is a universal right. Infact, knowledge is increasingly regarded as the solution to individual and collective, social and economic problems. In other words, lifelong learning is an essential part in the community development process, where community members acquire their life skills, soft skills and vocational skills throughout their lifespan to take part in their social, cultural, vocational and professional life. It is indeed an intervention tool for socio-economic empowerment in a globalizing world to stay ahead in a competitive world with knowledge superiority. In this connection, the purpose of this paper is to share the lifelong learning management experience of Covenant University in terms of its programmes, processes and strategies adopted to cope with some internal and external constraints within the context of key global trends in lifelong learning. This may be of value to lifelong learning community because Covenant University is already becoming a global brand in higher education. The idea is to provide some lessons for global lifelong learning managers as well as expose them to issues and challenges confronting lifelong learning in our own part of the globe. This exposure will further show how lifelong learning has been planned, not only to bridge the knowledge gaps between university curricula and corporate practices, but also between information rich and information poor citizens, particularly for the citizens who cannot afford formal education due to socio-economic backwardness.