Skopje, 26 October 2021 (MIA) – Education is key to achieve full employability and to get eradicate poverty. Countries have taken it upon themselves, through various conventions and declaration, to focus on the approach, equality and inclusiveness, quality and learning results within the concept of lifelong learning. It encompasses all age ranges, despite believing that it’s only adults, and it means that it satisfies a wide range of needs and demands for learning in an informal way alongside formal education. A Lifelong Learning Center has been opened in the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, which aims to help and support people in their effort to adapt to social changes. The center was promoted at the “Lifelong Learning Days” conference, where the center director Elena Rizova said that it will be the bridge to connect universities and the ever-changing needs of society, the labor market and qualified staff. “Lifelong learning doesn’t prepare us for life, it should represent a modern person’s lifestyle. Learning doesn’t end when a person reaches a certain stage of life, it’s a continuous process of expanding and enriching people’s experiences. Investing in competences, knowledge, skills and abilities for whatever purpose, should be the guiding force of a person, to lead them forward in life,” Rizova said. She listed the center’s goals and its activities, among which are international cooperation, consultant help for institutions and enterprises, professional development seminars, training, modules, courses etc. Professor Zoran Velkovski talked about the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, in which, the education segment asks the countries to secure an inclusive, fair and quality education, and promote opportunities for lifelong learning for all, as well as Article 10 of the Incheon Declaration, which expresses the governments’ dedication to promote quality opportunities for lifelong learning for all, in every environment and every education level. Velkovski believes that countries, including ours, should act in accordance with what they promised to do, and increase budgets and support for the concept of lifelong learning. “The Incheon Declaration raised the limit from 15 to 20% of adults participating in forms of lifelong learning. That number is 2.4% in our country, which is leagues below the limit,” Velkovski said. Predictions state that the countries that don’t focus on this concept will be less capable of adapting, he says. UKIM rector Nikola Jankulovski opened the conference, saying that every society and economy structured around knowledge prioritizes lifelong learning, and tat the Lisbon Strategy from 2000 highlighted the meaning of human resources and investing in education, training and perfecting to achieve economic growth, increasing competitiveness on the labor market and reducing unemployment rates. He said that there are multiple reasons connected with, primarily, globalization, demographic trends, economic and cultural needs etc., which point out to the necessity of urgent all-encompassing activities in the area of lifelong learning which must be incorporated in institutional frameworks, as well as the countries’ educational systems. “The European Commission points out the necessity of redefining the role of the university and its duty to achieve the goals of the European strategic educational documents,” Jankulovski added. dk/ba/