The expression “Lifelong learning” has been recently introduced to define a new approach to knowledge and life in general , which considers education  as a process that lasts all one’s life. Learning is seen as something which takes place everywhere, not only at schools or universities, but also at workplace, at home or on the web, through different ways of enriching knowledge. According to this conception, every person is continuously exposed to new incitements coming from the environment and at any moment learns new attitudes, values and abilities, which are useful for private and professional life.

This new perspective, which passes outdated divisions between formal, non-formal and informal education, has been translated in a concrete action, that is the Lifelong Learning Programme. Its specific objective is to improve the quality and efficacy of the education system and to support exchanges and cooperation between the different educational institutions in Europe.

In general, in such a globalized and changeable society, lifelong learning helps people to adapt themselves to any new situation, job or new technology. It learns people how to learn always new notions and it indirectly spreads democratic values and the consciousness of any individual of being actively a citizen.

Since lifelong learning and the ability to do that have become necessary to live in our contemporary society, I think that every person should be trained since childhood to be versatile and sensitive to any external change or innovation. Activities that force people to prove their abilities and to develop new ones in different contexts should be carried out also at workplace. I also believe that programmes of exchanges should be promoted not only at university or at workplace, but much earlier, at secondary school. In my opinion, in conclusion, adaptability, multitasking and interdisciplinary perspective are the keys that everyone should acquire for being prepared to succeed in lifelong learning.