Lifelong learning in practice:Understanding and enabling meaningful participation of non-traditional students in university education in Uganda

Since the liberalisation of higher education in Uganda in the early 1990s, a lot of changes have taken place in the organisation and provision of university education. The changes are not only seen in the diversification of providers and programmes of study but also in the nature of the students’ body, i.e. in numbers, composition and needs of students. The present study focused on the participation question of students who, prior to liberalisation of higher education, had been excluded (diploma holders) and underrepresented (mature age) in university education. The main argument of the thesis is that opening/increasing access alone is not good enough an effort in achieving inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Accordingly, the construct participation was used to mean going beyond physical access and enrolment to also include the decision making processes leading to that access, the realities of the environments in which the learner is located (both within and outside the institutions of learning) and the (post-institution) outcomes of that participation. Consequently, the study focused, on the one hand, on understanding the experiences and participation needs of non-traditional students (NTS), i.e. the response of universities to meet their needs, and on the other hand, on enabling such students achieve meaningful participation, i.e. promoting their agency to cause social change in the way they participate. The study concludes by making recommendations in areas deemed key in the agenda for improving lifelong learning opportunities of NTS: guidance and counselling; public discourse and policy dialogue; and building innovative partnerships