International Education and Microcredential Exchange

Lifelong Learning and Adult Education

Lifelong learning is the "on-going, voluntary and self-motivated" pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Therefore, it not only enhances social inclusion and personal development, but also self-sustainability, as well as competitiveness and personal achievement.

During the last fifty years, constant scientific and technological innovation and change has had profound effects on how learning is understood. Learning can no longer be divided into a place and time to acquire knowledge (school) and to apply the knowledge acquired (the workplace). Instead, learning can be seen as something that takes place on an on-going basis from our daily interactions with others and with the world around us.

Lifelong learning has been described as a process that includes people learning in different contexts. These environments do not only include schools but also homes, workplaces, and even locations where people pursue leisure activities. However, while the learning process can be applied to learners of all ages, there is a focus on adults who are returning to organized learning.

Adult education is generally accepted as a context of lifelong learning, which is oriented towards education developed for the needs of schools and industries. This type of learning is concerned with the development of human potential, recognizing each individual's capacity for it.

In particular, adult education reflects a specific philosophy about learning and teaching based on the assumption that adults can and want to learn, that they are able and willing to take responsibility for that learning, and that the learning itself should respond to their needs.

Driven by what one needs or wants to learn, the available opportunities, and the manner in which one learns, adult learning is affected by demographics, globalization and technology. The learning happens in many ways and in many contexts just as all adults' lives differ.

The World Bank's 2019 World Development Report on The Changing Nature of Work argues that adult learning is an important channel to help readjust workers' skills to fit in the future of work and suggests ways to improve its effectiveness.

Educating adults differs from educating children in several ways given that adults have accumulated knowledge and work experience which can add to the learning experience. Most adult education is voluntary, therefore, the participants are generally self-motivated, unless required to participate, by an employer. 

Adults are mature and therefore have knowledge and have gained life experiences which provide them a foundation of learning. An adult's readiness to learn is linked to their need to have the information. Their orientation to learn is problem-centred rather than subject-centred. Their motivation to learn is internal.

Adults frequently apply their knowledge in a practical fashion to learn effectively. They must have a reasonable expectation that the knowledge they gain will help them further their goals. For example, during the 1990s, many adults, including mostly office workers, enrolled in computer training courses. These courses would teach basic use of the operating system or specific application software. Because the abstractions governing the user's interactions with a PC were so new, many people who had been working white-collar jobs for ten years or more eventually took such training courses, either at their own whim (to gain computer skills and thus earn higher pay) or at the behest of their managers.

The purpose of adult education in the form of college or university is distinct. In these institutions, the aim is typically related to personal growth and development as well as occupation and career preparedness. Another goal might be to not only sustain the democratic society, but to even challenge and improve its social structure.


IMPACT Blueprint Design

The International Multicreditations Programme for Academic, Human Capital and Talent Development (IMPACT) is an educational blueprint designed by LKI Blueprint Design Team in the realm of lifelong learning and adult education in Malaysia.

The IMPACT Blueprint suits with the primary purpose of adult education which is to provide a second chance and equal access to education for those who missed the opportunity to learn and achieve educational certifications in their younger age.

The purpose of an adult learner to participate in a study programme under the IMPACT Blueprint can be vocational, social, recreational or for self-development. One of its goals may be to help adult learners satisfy their personal needs and achieve their professional goals.

With the development of economy and the progress of society, the requirement of human quality has been raised. Its ultimate goal might be to achieve human fulfilment. The goal might also be to achieve an institution's needs. For example, this might include improving its operational effectiveness and productivity. A larger scale goal of adult education may be the growth of society by enabling its citizens to keep up with societal change and maintain good social order.


IMPACT Solutions

The IMPACT Blueprint is designed to address the challenges in adult education as adults have many responsibilities that they must balance against the demands of learning. Because of these responsibilities, adults have barriers and challenges against participating in learning and continuing their education. The barriers can be classified into three groups including institutional, situational and dispositional.

Some of these barriers include the lack of time balancing career and family demands, finances and transportation. As well, things such as confidence, interest, lack of information about opportunities to learn, scheduling problems, entrance requirements and problems with workload at the office or place of business can be barriers in learning.

The IMPACT Blueprint is designed to provide solutions to motivate adult learners to enrol by reducing their barriers at the same time highlighting the benefits of their continuing education.

The blueprint designer believes that each student has different characteristics and that characteristics are very important that he can design study programmes under the IMPACT Blueprint that addresses both the strengths and the needs of each student.

In Malaysia and some other fast-developing countries, the qualifications of adults fall far behind those of young people and may no longer match the requirements of a developed economy. This implies strong potential demand for the education and training of adults. This demand needs to be met through flexible modes of study which are suitable for adults, avenues of access that recognize informal prior learning and the supports necessary for adults with limited formal education to succeed in further study.

Deterrents faced by adults are multifaceted, including both external and internal factors. However, cost and time have been remained as the most frequently reported deterrents. Cost includes tuition fee of a programme as well as extra expenditures for learning such as clothes, food, transportation and other necessities.

For the time barrier, most adults involved in the above mentioned studies reported that they could not participate in educational activities due to lack of time. Adults tend to say that they were busy with their daily routines. Adults feel they do not have time to learn because they are busy at work and home. 

When selecting courses that make the multiple certifications in all study programmes under the IMPACT Blueprint, the blueprint designer has carefully chose those courses, even if they are combined would be compact enough they can be completed in a short period of time with value for money propositions.


IMPACT Design Requirement

Designing courses for Malaysian clients, we follow the MQF, a framework governed by MQA. For certain qualified institutions, we can also design Non-MQF Professional Programmes. Table below listed the credit requirement of programmes under MQF and Non-MQF. Contact hours may varies depending on institutional requirements.

​The MQF governs both Academic and TVET Education in Malaysia.

LEVEL	MQF	RQF UK
8	Doctoral 80	-
7	Master 40 PGDip 30 PGCert 20	Master 180
6	Degree 120 GDip 60 ​GCert 30	Degree 240
5	AdvDip 40	AdvDip 150
4	Dip 90	ProDip 120
3	Cert 60	ProCert 90
2	Cert 30	ProCert 60
1	Cert 15	ProCert 30

​​​MQF

The Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) is Malaysia's declaration about its qualifications and their quality in relation to its education system. MQF was first published in 2007 and its implementation was enforced in 2011. After 7 years of implementation, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has revised MQF to ensure its relevancy/currency, according to dynamism of national and international higher education system. The revised version, MQF 2nd Edition is approved by the MQA Council Meeting in December 2017.

The revision mainly focused on restructuring and strengthening MQF learning outcomes; and integrating Skills, and Vocational and Technical sectors into one sector, i.e. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector, whilst, the Higher Education sector was renamed as Academic sector.