LIFELONG LEARNING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

This article argues for the need and importance of acquiring the appropriate education and competences to better deal with the new skills and challenges raised for the labour market by the disruptions induced by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The importance of increasing the participation of people in lifelong learning (LLL) is also recognized at the level of public policies in the European Union, as one of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, meant to contribute to reducing unemployment, poverty and social exclusion and to inclusive growth, respectively. However, in order to achieve the assumed target of 15%, the share of the population participating in the LLL should increase on average by 11% annually over the next three years. This is an unrealistic pace for several reasons, as demonstrated by the analysis of the current situation and the developments in the last decade carried out in the paper. The situation in Romania is also highlighted by discussing the determinants of the current picture, where the indicator is almost ten times lower than the national target.

Keywords

• lifelong learning
• skills and competences
• technological change
• European Union
• Romania