Lifelong Learning Policy and Regional Development: Evidence from an EU Case Study

Learning throughout life can be found in many cultures, ancient civilizations, and religions in Asia and the EU. Many countries and communities regard lifelong learning as essential to their education goals, human resource improvement and development frameworks. At the European level, one of the most important tools that operate in this area is the European Social Fund. It explicitly supports lifelong learning, through measures and interventions that foster the economic, employment and social objectives of the EU and the Member States. This study seeks to measure, with a case study, the impact of lifelong learning on regional development. Lifelong learning is defined as all purposeful learning activities, undertaken throughout life, on an ongoing basis, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills, and competence within a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related context. Beyond the benefits, lifelong learning represents an advantage for the regional economy. Our research demonstrates its positive effects on a wider scale both in terms of its direct impact on domestic demand and on the performance of the local economies. A higher skilled workforce attracts more investment, contributing to improving the well-being of the local population. A survey and an econometric model are used to analyse the case study. The results can be extended to other areas with similar demographic and economic characteristics, including Asian ones.