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This chapter looks into the changing contexts and definitions of clienteles of lifelong learners over the last quarter of a century. The author has been involved in three closely related studies on who lifelong learners are, how they access and participate in higher education (HE), and how and what are they learning in HE and summarises some of the developments and issues over the 25 years that these studies cover (approximately 1987 to 2012).

The demand for and participation in continuing education by Canadian university graduates who completed bachelor and/or first professional degrees in 1995 are analyzed in this article. Within five years of completing their first degree, in addition to participating in graduate programs, a large number of those graduates participated in non-degree programs and courses for career and job purposes and for personal reasons. Through a descriptive analysis of National Graduate Survey (NGS) data for the 1995 cohort, the authors examined the socio-demographic profile of participants, their motives for participating in continuing education, and their choice of specific programs. According to the study findings, the respondents' labour-market situation, both in objective and subjective terms, was an important reason for participating in continuing education; indeed, more than three-quarters of participants had a job/education-related reason for participating in continuing education. In particular, the study provides information and insight into the demand (expressed and latent) of a targeted university continuing education audience. The National Graduate Survey together with Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS) and institutional data, allow a more realistic assessment of participants' needs and program preferences. (Contains 4 endnotes and 8 tables.)

To answer the question "Financing what?" this article distinguishes several models of lifelong learning as well as a variety of lifelong learning activities. Several financing methods are briefly reviewed, however the principal focus is on Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) which were seen by some analysts as a promising model for financing learning for adults and an instrument for shifting initiative, choice and responsibility for learning to the learners themselves, for generating a market for providers of education and training, as well as making individuals and their employers share the costs of these activities. Before the backdrop of the decision by Sweden and Canada to abandon their plans to introduce such ILAs prior to their actual launch and the negative experience of the UK where ILAs were implemented on a large scale but later rescinded, the article tries to analyse the problems that ILAs experienced. (Contains 3 tables and 4 notes.)

International organisations were the main proponents of Lifelong Learning when the concept was first developed in the early 1970s. Although different organisations used different labels--Lifelong Learning, recurrent education, education permanente--they all emphasised that learning is a lifelong process and that all education should be organised around that principle. In the 1990s the idea re-emerged, again conceptualised and propagated by international organisations, this time however with a strong human capital rationale. Unlike the first generation notion this new concept was espoused both by governments of the Western industrialised countries and industry. The author critically discusses the role of international organisations in the conceptualisation and implementation of Lifelong Learning. He argues that international organisations do not operate on their own but that their debates and agendas are influenced by national governments who use them for pushing and legitimatising their own political agendas. (Contains 1 note.)

The authors show ways in which Jarl Bengtsson, a Swedish social scientist and policy analyst, has influenced international policy making. As a member and later director of the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation from the beginning of the 1970s to the end of the twentieth century, he has contributed to the international discussion as well as on concrete policy initiatives for lifelong learning as a comprehensive concept for education and other forms of learning outside the formal education system. He was convinced that only such a wider concept would provide equal opportunity to many groups disadvantaged under the present education system, especially adults, indigenous groups, people residing in remote areas, learners from low socio-economic backgrounds and people with disabilities. Since 'lifelong learning' does not start after school, the foundations being built well before, he was also emphasising that learning during one's lifetime was dependent on other enabling and motivational factors such as brain development and early childhood education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International organisations were the main proponents of Lifelong Learning when the concept was first developed in the early 1970s. Although different organisations used different labels—Lifelong Learning, recurrent education, éducation permanente—they all emphasised that learning is a lifelong process and that all education should be organised around that principle. In the 1990s the idea re‐emerged, again conceptualised and propagated by international organisations, this time however with a strong human capital rationale. Unlike the first generation notion this new concept was espoused both by governments of the Western industrialised countries and industry. The author critically discusses the role of international organisations in the conceptualisation and implementation of Lifelong Learning. He argues that international organisations do not operate on their own but that their debates and agendas are influenced by national governments who use them for pushing and legitimatising their own political agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]