Over the past four decades lifelong learning has been an important concept in educational policy, so much so that it has become one of the essential guiding principles in almost all of the educational reforms. Accompanying its popularity amongst policy makers, however, has been a perennial debate among academics concerning the viability of the concept as a researchable construct. Such debates have also focused on addressing the conceptual issues surrounding lifelong learning. In particular, there have been only limited numbers of studies aimed at understanding what really constitute the attributes of lifelong learners in the context of higher education. Despite much rhetoric about the significance of lifelong learning as a policy goal, there is a dearth of studies focusing on exploring the possible ways in which educational institutions can really achieve this goal of policy. This article aims at contributing to these debates, in an attempt to address issues associated with the challenges of developing a conceptual framework for understanding the indicators that provide quantifiable measures of lifelong learning. In particular, the article focuses on examining the individual, social and economic dimensions of lifelong learning that are fostered in higher education institutions. The article seeks to provide an understanding of possible ways in which higher learning institutions can concretise lifelong learning and move from rhetorical commitments to action.
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