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Institutionalised forms of adult learning and education (ALE) such as community learning centres (CLCs) and related models are found in most parts of the world. These are spaces offering opportunities for literacy and skills training, health and citizenship, general, liberal and vocational education, in line with fuller recognition of the meaning of lifelong learning, and in the context of local communities. Often these institutions form the basis for even more informal and participatory learning, like study circles and community groups. They may share facilities like libraries and museums, clubs and sports centres, which are not within the remit of the Ministry of Education. This article reviews relevant literature and identifies recent studies and experiences with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions, but also considers insights related to interventions at the global level. Findings point to low levels of participation of adults in general, and more specifically so for vulnerable and excluded groups which can hardly cross respective barriers. The authors' discussion is guided by the questionLes centres d’apprentissage communautaires (CLC) pour l’apprentissage et l’éducation des adultes (AEA) : leur développement dans et par les communautés – Des formes institutionnalisées d’apprentissage et d’éducation des adultes (AEA) telles que les centres d’apprentissage communautaires (CLC) et les modèles qui y sont liés se retrouvent dans presque toutes les régions du monde. Ce sont des espaces d’alphabétisation et d’acquisition de compétences, d’instruction en matière de santé et de citoyenneté, et d’éducation générale, libérale et professionnelle, et ce pleinement en accord avec ce que l’on entend par apprentissage tout au long de la vie et avec le contexte des communautés locales. Souvent, ces établissements constituent la base d’un apprentissage encore plus informel et participatif comme dans les cercles d’études et les groupes communautaires. Ils peuvent se partager des locaux avec des bibliothèques et des musées, des clubs et des centres sportifs qui n’entrent pas dans les attributions du ministère de l’Éducation. Cet article passe en revue la littérature pertinente sur ce thème et recense à ce sujet des études et expériences récentes en s’intéressant particulièrement à l’Asie-Pacifique et à l’Afrique, tout en tenant compte également de connaissances liées à des interventions au niveau mondial. Les résultats révèlent de faibles niveaux de participation des adultes en général, et plus particulièrement des groupes vulnérables et exclus, qui peinent à franchir les obstacles auxquels ils se heurtent respectivement. La question dominante dans le débat des auteurs est la suivante

The author describes the distinct mission and situation of university education in England from his own students days to the present, arguing that the changing ways that students are perceived and treated today, in the United Kingdom and other countries, are becoming more similar due to the “globalization” of political economy and the “internationalization” of higher education. The focus on teaching and learning was then seen as more important than ‘impact’ such as graduate employment or the university’s standing in international league tables. The author concludes that universities continue providing a moral compass for society, and that university engagement with the community should not be understood as a “third mission” but rather a integrative thread of research and teaching.

Background: Previous studies on the Occlutech Duct Occluder (ODO) have established the safety and efficacy of duct occlusion in small patient cohorts, without clearly defining the technique required for successful device implantation. The objective of this study was to describe in detail how to size and implant the device, evaluating the proposed technique in a large patient cohort, including patients with large ducts (≥4 mm). Methods and findings: Transcatheter arterial duct (PDA) occlusion was attempted in 166 successive patients with a PDA ≥ 1 mm diameter. For PDAs

To gather current experience in Occlutech ASD device retrieval, to determine whether snaring is an effective technique and to highlight alternative retrieval techniques; METHODS AND RESULTS: United Kingdom and European Occlutech ASD device implanters reported their experience in dealing with device embolization and retrieval. Six operators reported 12 retrieval cases. Retrieval was successful in 92% (11/12), although in most cases it was not straightforward and required multiple attempts using different techniques and equipment. When each different technique or equipment combination was considered separately, there were a total of 23 retrieval attempts. Fifteen attempts involved snaring the ball on the right atrial disc of the device ("the RA pin"). In 12/15 of these attempts the snare slipped off the RA pin. In 8/15 attempts snaring eventually failed. In two cases retrieval was facilitated by elongating the device in a blood vessel. In three cases retrieval was achieved by grasping the RA pin with the jaws of the Occlutech Flex II delivery cable; CONCLUSIONS: Snares do not grip the RA pin sufficiently to reliably retrieve the device. Funnelling the device into a blood vessel or grasping the RA pin with the jaws of the delivery cable may be successful alternatives. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

BackgroundThe Occlutech Figulla ASD device series (OFSO) shows an improved device design for interventional ASD closure, larger follow-up series are missing. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the feasibility, safety, implantation properties, results, and follow-up of ASD closure using Occlutech devices over a 5 year period by establishing a multi-institutional collaborative result registry with 16 contributing centers from 11 countries (IRFACODE). ResultsIn 1315 patients of all age groups (female 66.9%), successful (98%) ASD closure was performed (mean age 28.9 years, weight 52 kg, height 148.6 cm). Of the defects, 47.9% showed no or only a deficient aortic rim;in 11.9%, there was more than one defect;a septum aneurysm was present in 21.5%;and the mean implanted device size was 20.5 mm. Immediate closure was achieved in 78.6%, at discharge in 83.1%, and 96.4% and 97.3% at 6 and 12 months follow-up, respectively. During a mean follow-up of 2.7 years (in total 3597 patient years), significant complications were minimal (total=8

Originally published in 1987 and now with an updated preface, this book distils and reflects upon major issues confronting adult educators worldwide. Theories, practices and systems of adult education unify the contradictions between different traditions and phases, drawing on the distinctive perspective offered by the Chinese setting and experience of the Shanghai Adult Education Research Society on which the book is based.

Originally published in 1985 this book addresses important questions about the nature and meaning of development as these concern adult education in the developing world. It contributes to the development debate as well as discussiong what part adult education can play in reducing poverty and inequality. It consists of 7 case studies by adult educators and researchers involved in adult education programmes in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The introductory, linking and concluding sections draw out and highlight common issues and themes leading to conclusions about the potential of large-scale, mainly governmental, adult education programmes to effect social change.

Most learning takes place in communities, neighbourhoods and workplaces. Here practical solutions to big problems work or fall down. We may call this the iron law of social learning, recognised in ‘community development’, ‘community capacity-building’, ‘workplace’, ‘work-based’ and ‘work-integrated’ learning. Language is problematic, the gap between words and deeds often large. Will social learning allow richer ‘third generation lifelong learning’ in Asia? Could it retain the hard economic edge of second generation lifelong learning while recovering the broad vision of the first generation inspired by Unesco's Faure and Delors Reports? That initial vision was of a perceived imperative for survival in and of a stressed world. There are in some societies roots in older traditions and forms of knowledge; foundations for wider and deeper lifelong learning known as indigenous knowledge and knowing. What might this look like? Current globally dominant policies are of mainly European and American origin, like the neo-liberal ideology and policies that survived the global financial crisis. Will ‘business as usual’ continue, with lifelong learning meaning vocational and education and training, and old paradigms still imported into Asia? Or might a reverse flow of influence from what we call the East and South wash over the North and West?

Zgaga, Pavel, Teichler, Ulrich, Schuetze, Hans. G., and Wolter, Andrae (Eds.) (2015). Higher education reform: Looking back - looking forward. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Pages: 430. Price: 72.95 USD (hardback and eBook).This substantial book is the eighth volume in the Higher Education Research and Policy (HERP) Peter Lang series, which employs comparative international perspectives to study higher education systems in transition within rapidly changing environments. "The series intends to explore the impact of such wider social and economic processes as globalization, internationalization and Europeanization on higher education institutions...." The four editors are firmly anchored in Central Western Europe scholarly experience and traditions. Their substantial jointly authored Introduction concludes that "there are many more challenging questions for higher education research than appear at first sight," before going on to explain the genesis of this book in the series of Higher Education Reform (HER) workshops held annually from 2003 in the three northern continents. Today there are many "book-of-the-film" type volumes that, part of the contemporary HE research business, reproduce from an often heterogeneous set of conference papers presented (heterogeneous to capture wide contributor participation) a loosely linked and not overly satisfying volume. This book is different. It draws not on last year's fest. Instead it is written thoughtfully and selectively from papers first aired at the 2011 and 2013 HER workshops in Berlin and Ljubljana.A test of success in terms of series purposes is the choice of Section themes, and the coherence provided by the editors who briefly introduce each of the five Sections. These address in turn: (A) Changing Contexts and Directions (chapters by Peter Scott and two of the editors, Teichler and Zgaga); (B) Changing Environments and Missions of Higher Education (with two European chapters and one each on the Chinese and Japanese systems); three chapters that vigorously critique new managerialism under (C) Academic Freedom: A Story Whose Ending is Uncertain. A natural sequel is (D) Globalization, Privatization and the Future, from North America, especially Mexico; and five chapters on Higher Edu- cation and Lifelong Learning. These sustain the well sourced and grounded character of the earlier Sections, concluding with a discussion of conflicting narratives on MOOCS - a subject approaching which my eyes tend to glaze over yet for me, personally and not to detract from the quality and utility of others, the most novel and stimulating chapter of all. The quality and connectivity of the whole volume make it an excellent book. There is no attempt to draw the threads together with a concluding chapter, but notwithstanding the book achieves a balance of diversity and connectivity around the Section themes. In an age of e-publishing, social media blogging, think-tank papers and other more or less scholarly material including heterogeneous conference papers struggling to present as thematic books, it is tempting to conclude that the age of the substantial hardback copy is dead. This volume suggests otherwise.Different user-readers will find different chapters more or less close to their interests. My own preoccupation and often frustrated irritation of recent years pivots around "lifelong learning," both as a loose, easily trivialised and often pitifully reduced idea for which carelessness of words and meanings are much at fault, drew my attention to the final Section. I also have inexhaustible fascination with chronic tension: between general trends and unique national and regional contexts; between aspiration and observation; between the internal somewhat closed world of the university and the raging demands placed on higher education by a distressed globe across all aspects of cultural, social and economic life and its eco-systems. …

Objectives This study aimed to report our national experience with transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) occlusion in infants weighing

If … I appear to introduce rather freely the personal note, my defence is that under the circumstances this is inevitable. (Drummond 1959, p. viii)I may plead a similar defence. For a short period ...

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.