In a recent communication, the European Commission defined lifelong learning as "all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal, civic andor employment-related prespective".

Lifelong learning, said the commission, is therefore about:

¤ acquiring and updating all kinds of abilities, interests, knowledge and qualifications from the pre-school years to post-retirement. It promotes the development of knowledge and competencies that will enable each citizen to adapt to the knowledge-based society and actively participate in all spheres of social and economic life, taking more control of his or her future;

¤ valuing all forms of learning, including: formal learning, such as a degree course followed at university; non-formal learning, such as vocational skills acquired at the workplace; and informal learning, such as inter-generational learning, for example, where parents learn to use ICT skills through their children, or learning how to play an instrument together with friends.

Learning opportunities should be available to all citizens on an ongoing basis according to their individual needs and interests, the commission added.

The commission sees lifelong learning as a response to the rapid changes taking place in the economic and social spheres, the transition to a knowledge-based society, as well as the demographic pressures resulting from an aging population.

These are "all challenges which demand a new approach to education and training, within the context of lifelong learning".

Indeed, the European Union has taken the idea of lifelong learning very much to heart, having set itself the goal, at the 2000 Lisbon summit, of becoming "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based society in the world".

Following the summit the EU, in a memorandum, asked for proposals and feedback on the state of lifelong learning in all member and candidate countries, including Malta.

The memorandum revolved around six key "messages": new basic skills for all; more investment in human resources; innovation in teaching and learning; valuing learning; rethinking guidance and counselling; bringing learning closer to home.

It emerged from the consultation documents that there was a clear need for lifelong learning strategies in order to develop people`s employability and adaptability in the labour market, to assist them in becoming active citizens within society, as well as to help them obtain personal fulfilment by pursuing their own ambitions and interests.

However, in many ways the goal set at the Lisbon summit still seems to be a far-off dream. Viviane Reding, the commissioner responsible for education, said that last year, fewer than 10 per cent of Europeans of working age undertook any training.

"This is manifestly not enough and if we do nothing about it then Europeans will find it difficult to be part of an international economy and of societies in which knowledge and skills are becoming obsolete ever more quickly.

"The time has come to act and not just think about it," she said.

In trying to promote action, the Commission has put forward proposals that it says will contribute to the realisation of a "European area of lifelong learning".