Colloquium on Lifelong Learners in Higher Education, University of Western Cape, 1-2 September

Increasing numbers of students have to seek employment opportunities in order to support themselves; they are enrolled either as ‘full-time’ or ‘part-time’ students, attending classes in the cracks of their work, community and family lives. They may attend in the day-time, after-hours, or in block periods. They are juggling multiple responsibilities of home, work and studies. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are often not equipped to support them adequately. The purpose of the colloquium was to understand the issues of working, ‘non-traditional’ students more deeply and raise questions about ways in which HEIs, both locally and internationally, are responding to their needs in order to promote and support lifelong learners.

This colloquium brought together researchers, policy makers, employers and practitioners over two days on 1 and 2 September 2011 and was hosted by Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division of Lifelong Learning in the University of Western Cape (UWC). The first day took the form of an extended lunch time public lecture by Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research and Development from Dublin City University, Ireland, who situated the issues in wider international contexts in her paper Lifelong Learners in Higher Education: International Trends.

The second day focused on one critical aspect of the topic, that is,  Lifelong Learners and part-time studies in Higher Education. This included experiences from students, institutional case studies, debates, and discussions both from South Africa and further afield. The two case studies were of Makerere University, Uganda, which was led by Dr George Openjuru, Dean, School of Distance and Lifelong Learning, and UWC, which was led by Jos Koetsier, DLL and Ms Sally Witbooi, Library and Information Systems, UWC. Rapporteurs from various sectors, included Ms Lynne du Toit, CEO, Juta (Publishing) and Co. Ltd, Mr Mark Espin, Student and Lecturer, Dr Mark Abrahams, UWC with a final summing up by Brian Williams, Chair of the Council of UWC.

This colloquium also served to promote collaboration between Dublin City University and the University of Western Cape in South Africa and to enhance existing research links between Professor Maria Slowey, Higher Education Research and Development, DCU and Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division for Lifelong Learning, University of Western Cape, South Africa. Professor Walters will visit DCU to participate as an expert panellist in the forthcoming HERC seminar on 3 October at the Helix in DCU. The main speaker for this event is Professor Dirk Van Damme, Head of CERI who will present a lecture entitled 'Governing higher education: the limits of public regulation and institutional autonomy in a connected world'. For more information on this event please visit our seminar page.