Institutions vs. Individuals. The role of the Public University in "Lifelong Education": ¿why?, ¿what for?, and ¿how?

Abstract

The world is changing rapidly as a consequence of technological progress. One of the effects of this transformation is that core education has ceased to be initial (childhood and youth), to become a process that lasts a lifetime: "Lifelong Education ", (ELV, by its acronym in Spanish). This change requires permanent updating or training. In this essay, we verify that the individual’s behaviors in their ELV educational itineraries overflow the institutional margins, blurring and reconfiguring its borders. So, our main questions are: ¿How does this change affect our public universities? and ¿In which way do these public institutions are relocating into this new educational scenario of the ELV?