ENLIVEN’s overarching objective is to provide an innovative model and mechanism to support policy debate, policy formation and policy evaluation in lifelong learning, focussing on the needs of today’s young adults, and integrating theoretical and empirical perspectives from social and computer sciences. It will generate an evidence-based analysis of where, when and why policies have been effective, and develop a computer-based intelligent system to improve policy-making. The project draws on two research fields – social science and computer science – and combines expertise from both. Partner research institutions are located in nine countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, and United Kingdom); some research tasks will also be undertaken under a specific arrangement with researchers at a university in Denmark.
The specific objectives of ENLIVEN are to:
Map and critically assess key elements of programmes implemented at EU, national and regional levels to support access to and participation in adult learning among excluded population groups and those at risk of social exclusion, assess how these have addressed disadvantage, inequality, and social exclusion, and helped overcome barriers to participation, and in what ways participation in education and training benefits the social and economic inclusion of population groups suffering from exclusion and cumulative disadvantage;
Assess the impact of “system characteristics” (of initial and adult education, the labour market, the economy, and social protection) on aggregate participation rates (overall, and in various segments of adult education markets), and on the distribution of participation (with special reference to disadvantaged young adults and using gender-sensitive approaches);
Assess the role of lifelong learning in developing a productive, efficient and competitive economy through investigating what learning potential and innovation ability exists within workplaces, what organisational models favour innovation and innovative training, and how effective learning actions are;
Identify and map the nature and availability of data about adult and lifelong learning, and integrate these with new research findings from across the ENLIVEN project and, using data mining, establish a knowledge base for the development of an Intelligent Decision Support System to support policy making;
Design and implement an Intelligent Decision-making Support System (IDSS), and test how this could adapt to new knowledge and learn from restoring and updating users’ experience interactively.
For more information visit the project website.