Public Events

Transnational Conference - ‘Comparative Analysis in Adult and Lifelong Learning’

The Transnational Conference “Comparative Analysis in Adult and Lifelong Learning” was held as the project’s final multiplier event. It took place at the University of Würzburg on 16^th of February 2018 and run parallel to the last day of the Intensive Programme 2018. Subsequently to the event, the University of Würzburg organised the conference “Lifelong Learning Policies & Adult Education Professionals” of the ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning. Thereby the event could include a broad international audience and could reach in total 74 participants. 

The multiplier event aimed to present the final results of the developed intellectual outputs of the Strategic Partnership – Joint-Module Methodology (IO1), Online-Tutorial (IO2), Professional Online Network (O3) and Comparative Analysis (IO4). Therefore, the partner consortium prepared an interactive presentation of the COMPALL project including the different partner experiences. By presenting visually and audible the developed outputs, the partner consortium could outline the possibilities of using (parts of) the project results for external universities, institutions and professionals in the international field of adult education and lifelong learning. Moreover, the audience could take part in the presentation of the students’ comparative group work, which were undertaken during the intensive programme. At the end, the partners elaborated on lessons learned from the project. It discussed on the future and sustainable perspectives of COMPALL in a plenary session and presented the three book publications. Two of those publications were only recently released. 

In particular[MS1] , the following results were presented in the above outlined structure:

• Participant Guide & Transnational Essay Guide; University Guide for On-Campus preparation; Moderator Guide
• Book publication on the Joint-Module Methodology
• Online Tutorials
• Professional Network for Adult Education and Lifelong Learning (LinkedIn Network)
• Information Tool
• Book publications on the Comparative Analysis of the Winter School 2016 and Winter School 2017

All in all the multiplier event reached a pinpointed dissemination of the project results, by gaining high international participation due to the involvement of participants from the ASEM conference, which took place subsequent to the event. All participants showed their high interest in joining the project or using (parts of) the project results at their universities/ institutions. By presenting the three developed book publications – one book on the Joint Module Methodology (IO1), two books on the Comparative Analysis (IO4) – the consortium could address possible readers and users of the research results. 

Referring to the aims of the final multiplier event – 1.) Presenting the comparative results and 2.) Disseminating the joint module concept to the international academic community of adult and lifelong learning – the consortium agrees that the event reached the mentioned targets successfully. The Strategic Partnership strongly believes that the Transnational Conference further contributed to the widespread implementation of the joint-module in the field of adult education and lifelong learning in Europe and beyond.

For further information please take a look at

• the program of the Multiplier Event 2018! 
• the program of the ASEM conference!

Intensive Seminar - Joint Module in Comparative Studies in Adult and Lifelong Learning

During the Multiplier event in February 2017, the results of the COMPALL Project were jointly analyzed by sixteen local and twenty-four foreign experts. This form of collaboration enabled all the partners and participants to become more aware of the successful outcomes achieved during the three-year project, the most important ones being:

• the pinpointed dissemination of the project results, both by winning over associated partners for the further implementation of the results at their universities, and also by introducing additional possibilities of cooperation with more universities and institutions
• the fact that the Joint Module is not only being implemented at the partner universities, but has also started to be used outside the COMPALL consortium, e.g. at the PH Ludwigsburg University, Germany and Delhi University
• the improvement of student support processes by involving all partners in the development of online tutorials, their purpose being to introduce content, methods and tasks to students before they attend the intensive programme in Würzburg. In the first two years, some online tutorials have been already developed, such as: a) Introduction to the Online Tutorials Page, b) Introduction to European Policies in Adult and Lifelong Learning, c) Introduction to Strategies and Educational Policy Analysis, d) Critical Overview of International Organizations in the Development of Adult Learning and Education, e) Selected Country Insights into Adult Education and Lifelong Learning. Considering that all partners realized the importance of supporting student participation, and these students understood the usefulness of tutorials, a further two online tutorials on ‘Introduction to Comparative Studies’ and ‘Analysis of Samples of Comparative Studies’ will be developed for the next year.

Further important outcomes were identified in meaningful discussions between partners and expert participants concerning some of the key concepts of comparative methodology:

• The importance of building a common understanding of scientific knowledge through the process of sharing and debating; the co-creation of content, thereby helping to strengthen the scientific community of Adult Education at both global and peer-learning level
• The importance of finding time and space to reflect, debate and share knowledge and ideas not only to empower professionals, but also students and learners who can improve their learning processes by means of active involvement in collective experiences
• The importance, from a comparative perspective, of being aware of the contexts (formal, non-formal, informal) and the dimensions according to which we examine them: political, societal, economic. This means that contexts for comparative research in adult education employ multiple perspectives.

To sum up, the whole process has provided significant results by improving the project itself and contributing to the students’ professional development.

For further information please take a look at the  program of the Multiplier Event 2017!