The Lifelong Education – A Social Trend or Competence Need

Abstract- This paper describes and compares the exemplified lifelong education programs in France and Norway and attempts to sketch the lifelong education programs and the intentions, expectations, and practical implications in these two countries. Recent studies claimed increasing people’s interests and engagement for life long education programs. There is a social trend that more and more people are enrolling part-time or flexible educational programs while they are working. The industries and business communities also express their needs for competence upgrading and flexible education offers. Though illustrated French and Norwegian cases indicate the similar social trend and need for lifelong education, there is a distinction on profiles and focuses on practical implications of lifelong learners ’ expectations and learning approaches. The paper also intends to compare this distinction for the readers to address the national characteristics of lifelong education. Key words