평생교육에 대한 독일 대학들의 관심 증대 및 운영 실태

Increase of Interest in Lifelong Education of German Universities and Its Vitalization Process after 1990s

Lifelong education is the continuous building of skills and knowledge throughout the life of an individual. It occurs through experiences encountered in the course a lifetime. These experience could be formal and informal. Lifelong education means education resulting from integration of formal, nonformal, and informal education, so as to create ability for continuous lifelong development of quality of life. Learning is therefore a part of life which takes place at all times and in all places. Lifelong education is the “lifelong, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. As such, it enhances not only social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development, but also competitiveness and employability. One of the first case of the term ‘lifelong education’ can be traced to ‘Volkshochschule in West Germany’, although it was the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization(=UNESCO) during the 1960s and 1970s that popularized the concept as a way of connecting the various stages of formal education and linking them with informal and non-formal learning. Already from 1960s the German universities had a correct understanding of lifelong education and consequently they expressed an interest about its vitalization. Even with this positivity the German Universities’ scholastic level became low. This situation stands on the opportunity which changes a university policy in Berlin Government. For that reason many universities in Germany strengthened elite education and the government selected ten elite university among these universities. The Free University in Berlin which was selected as the elite university did not abandon the specific importance of lifelong education. On the contrary, this university tried with program ‘Service fur Absolventen’ to put the graduate under their care. In so doing, it had a certain degree of effect.