From 10th to 11th June, 2014, with the purpose of promoting exchange and cooperation in lifelong education across the strait, the “2014 Lifelong Education Forum between Chengdu and Taiwan”, sponsored by the Taiwanese Affairs Office of Chengdu and the Bureau of Education of Chengdu and undertaken by Chengdu RTVU, was held in Chengdu.

The forum aimed to promote the dissemination of the philosophy of lifelong education, share the advanced experience in spreading lifelong education across the strait, enhance the warmth and friendship between colleagues in the educational sector across the strait, and push forward exchange and cooperation in education across the strait. Deputy Mayor of Chengdu Fu Yonglin, Deputy Director of the Further Education Office of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education Cai Yan and respective leaders of the Bureau of Education of Chengdu attended the forum and made speeches. 

The specialists and scholars from across the strait freely discussed the new thoughts and new moves in advancing the construction of a lifelong education system around the subject of “Innovating in the Education Service, Advancing the Construction of a Lifelong Education System”. Deputy Chairman of the China Adult Education Association and President of the National Community Education Professional Committe Chen Nailin delivered the keynote speech on “New Developments in Lifelong Education and the Construction of a Learning Society in Mainland China”. Deputy Chairman of the China Adult Education Association and Vice President of the OUC and Director of MOE Research & Training Centre for Community Education Zhang Shaogang delivered a speech on the specific topic of “A Construction Model for a Series of Labs for the ‘i-Experiments in Community Education’”. The President of the Adult and Lifelong Education Association of Taiwan Huang Fushun and the Chairman of the Adult Education Association of Chengdu made keynote speeches on “Policy and Practice in Promoting Lifelong Education in Taiwan” and “Making Education Better”. 

During the meeting, the Adult Education Association of Chengdu and the Adult and Lifelong Education Association of Taiwan signed a cooperation agreement in lifelong education between the two places. Attendees discussed sub-topics, including “Social Change and the Development of Education for the Elderly” and “Tactics and Ways of Integration of Lifelong Education Resources”, inspected the development of community education in Wuhou District, Qingyang District and Wenjiang District, and carried out case studies relating to some important projects in these regions, such as a management operating model for citizen open universities, the teaching practice of i-ecological vegetable gardens and citizenship education entering into communities. 

General situation of the development of lifelong education in Taiwan 

Taiwan’s lifelong education can be dated back to the early 1950s. At that time the education level of the citizens in Taiwan was very low. In such a situation, it became one of the urgent tasks faced by social education to promote citizen quality and help the citizens master life skills. Relevant regulations on social education were announced in September1953 and from then on regulations on how to deal with remediation for the citizens (adults) who were no longer in school came into being. According to the social environment at that time, the range of activities in adult education always aimed to eliminate illiteracy besides putting emphasis on popularizing basic education for citizens. Relevant regulations on social education pointed out that social education was a kind of supplementary education, continuing education and further education. 

The time when the phrase “lifelong education” appeared formally in Taiwan was 1980. The first article in the relevant regulation on social education, which was revised again in that year, stipulated clearly: “Social education aims to implement universal education and lifelong education.” Thereafter, Taiwan carried out educational reform many times and promoted lifelong education and lifelong learning to a more important place. Taiwan named 1998 year as the lifelong learning year. The same year, Taiwan published “Stepping forward to the Learning Society, and Teaching and Building the Learning Society”, which elaborated and planned the implementation of lifelong education and lifelong learning comprehensively from the perspectives of significance, content, tactics and specific methods, and brought the lifelong education of Taiwan on to the institutional road.

In May 2002, Taiwan published relevant regulations on implementing lifelong learning, which promoted by a considerable step forward the construction of Taiwan’s learning and the lifelong education system fundamentally came into being. 

The lifelong education of Taiwan was implemented mainly in the following ways: setting up a recurrent education system, exploring multiple entrance channels, driving education reform in schools, developing multiple forms of higher learning institutions, encouraging private enterprises to provide learning opportunities, developing all types of learning organizations, opening up opportunities for lifelong learning for the disadvantaged, integrating information networks for lifelong learning, establishing all levels of lifelong education committees, founding systems for recognizing achievements in learning for all, and promoting teacher quality in lifelong education.

By Chengdu RTVU