Publications & Policy Briefs
The Kanpur Declaration on the Future of Lifelong Learning Within and Beyond Education in India 12.12.2023, CSJMU, Kanpur, India
The Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University (CSJMU), Kanpur, U.P., and ASEM LLL Hub along with several international and Indian delegates who participated in the conference: Beyond Education: Implementing Lifelong Learning in India, organised by the CSJMU and ASEM LLL Hub at Kanpur, on December 11th and 12,th 2023, make the following declaration relevant for higher education institutions working with Lifelong Learning in India on this 12th day of January 2024
We recognise the complexity of the rapid social, economic, technological and environmental changes and the consequent challenges faced by India today.
We recognise that lifelong learning can play a vital role in enabling people of all ages in India to address these challenges, to flourish as active members of a dynamic Indian society and to contribute to shaping India’s future.
We recognise that higher education institutions have a special role to play in shaping a lifelong learning ecosystem in India that not only facilitates in providing lifelong learning opportunities to everyone but also value the learning achieved in diverse contexts.
That role includes, but is not limited to:
Leading research on all aspects of lifelong learning, contributing to a better awareness about lifelong learning, deepening understanding about lifelong learning within India, contributing to policy formulation, implementation and evaluation at various levels in India, and contributing to international scholarship on lifelong learning;
Designing, developing and delivering innovative lifelong learning programmes for adult learners within and beyond the higher education institutions through formal, non-formal offers and extension programs;
Facilitating professionalisation in lifelong learning by educating and training professionals to facilitate and promote various aspects of lifelong learning in formal, non-formal and informal settings within and beyond the education system through higher education institutions
Leading quality assurance by developing standardisation for recognition of prior learning and attaching value to all forms of learning;
Building alliances and partnerships with other individual and collective stakeholders both within and outside India to develop new and innovative approaches to lifelong learning that meet the needs of a dynamic and rapidly changing India;
This would not only improve learners’ own quality of life, but would also help them to prepare for new challenges in a rapidly changing society and to contribute to India’s sustainability from the local to the national level for the benefit of all.
We commit to this declaration and issue an open invitation to all stakeholders committed to lifelong learning to join us in shaping a new architecture for lifelong learning in India, redefining it according to the needs of the country, and facilitating its implementation.
Press Release: The Kanpur Declaration on the Future of Lifelong Learning Within and Beyond Education in India Final Version Released, 02.02.2024.
The Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University (CSJMU) and the Asia-Europe Meet Lifelong Learning (ASEM LLL) Hub have jointly released final version of The Kanpur Declaration on the Future of Lifelong Learning Within and Beyond Education in India, 2023. The document is one of the outcomes of the International Conference on Lifelong Learning held at Kanpur called Beyond Education: Implementing Lifelong Learning in India, organised by the CSJMU in collaboration with the ASEM LLL Hub on the 11th and 12th of December 2023. A preliminary draft put on the table at the conference has now been reviewed by several experts on lifelong learning from Asia and Europe.
The ASEM LLL Hub has also announced to establish its regional Center for the South Asian Region at CSJMU. The decision has been approved by the CSJMU in its executive council meeting on the 8th of January 2024. The ASEM South Asia Center will be placed under the Department of Lifelong Learning and Extension at the CSJMU and will be a part of their own Center for Excellence for Lifelong Learning. To promote lifelong learning in the region, the ASEM South Asia Center will facilitate research-based courses, international standard publications, research projects, community engagement, student exchange, internships for students as well as faculty, lifelong learning fest, and the like. Further, it will also facilitate a consortium of various stakeholders all over the world who work, or are willing to work, with lifelong learning in the South Asian Region. The consortium is open to all kinds of organisations and institutional stakeholders including educational institutions, government bodies, NGOs, industry and so on, and is facilitated by the Forum for Lifelong Learning.
The ASEM LLL Hub Chair Prof Séamus O’ Tuama from Ireland has thanked Prof Vinay Pathak, Vice Chancellor, CSJMU, India for showing special interest in promoting lifelong learning, both regionally and globally by offering resources and possibilities. Apart from Prof. Tuama and Prof. Vinay Pathak who provided the lead, Prof. Sandeep Kumar Singh, Director IQAC, Dr. Abhishek Kumar Mishra, Assistant Professor at the Department of Lifelong Learning and Extension, CSJMU; Dr. Shalini Singh, the South Asia Coordinator for the ASEM LLL Hub and Prof. Soeren Ehlers, European Coordinator for research network on Learning Transitions in ASEM LLL Hub, have been instrumental in the whole process. They noted that it has been a challenging task to finalise the declaration and contemplate the Center and they are looking forward for regional cooperation among the relevant stakeholders in South Asia.
Several delegates from various parts of the world and representing several educational and research institutions have contributed in the process. These include Prof. Arne Carlsen, former ASEM Chair and former Director of the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning (UIL), Prof. Bjarne Wahlgren, Aarhus University and Jakob Wandall, Nordic Metrics from Denmark; Prof. Sabine Schmidt Lauff and Dr. Jan Schiller, Helmut Schmidt University of the Federal Armed Forces from Germany; Lyndsey El Amoud, University College Cork, Ireland; Dr. Que Anh Dang, Coventry University from UK; Dr. Rosanna Barros, University of Algarve from Portugal; Dr. Juvy Lizette Gervacio from University of the Philippines from Philippines; Dr. Gaia Del Negro from Italy; Prof. Mohammed Shamsul Hoque, Daffodil University from Bangladesh, Prof. J.P. Dubey and Dr. Kumar Ashutosh, the University of Delhi, Rajula V., Globethics, Bangalore and Dr. R. Vasanthan, Nagaland University from India.
