Simona Sava

Participation Rates in Lifelong Learning

In this chapter, we will attempt to analyse the participation rates in lifelong learning in Romania. The development of participation in lifelong learning in the last 20 years is shortly presented and compared with participation rates in other European countries on the basis of the Adult Education Survey (AES). The main concern of the chapter is to investigate the possible reasons for the relatively low participation in lifelong learning, considering the history of adult education in Romania, the characteristics of the population, the structure and the current situation of the educational system, the needs and developments of the labour market in Romania and other cultural factors.

Internationalization of research and studies in adult education

There is a high need for formal provision for professionalization of adult educators at academic level (Research voor Beleid, 2008; European Commission, 2013b; CEDEFOP, 2013). In this paper, we explored the views of colleagues from ten universities from nine European countries who work together on developing the joint program on European Master in Adult Education (EMAE) as the European Doctoral School in Adult Education, in this way setting up the largest network of professionalization in adult education at European level. Our colleagues have been interviewed with the purpose of finding out about their motivation, expectations, the added value for their universities, and the outcomes and benefits of joining to such consortium. We also explored the obstacles and difficulties in designing and implementing the joint programs. Their reflections and experiences can be a source of inspiration for other universities interested in joining the consortium or setting up similar offers.