‘We need to design lifelong learning for the students we will have, not the ones we imagine’

The lifelong learning entitlement (LLE), which is planned to open for student applications in September, is often discussed in terms of funding, regulation and systems readiness. These issues, as well as the benefits to students, are undoubtedly important. Yet, the LLE raises a more fundamental question for academics: are our programmes designed for the students the LLE assumes? 

Recently published lifelong learning (fee limits) regulations have created a more level playing field across higher education in England. The LLE will be available to learners aged 18 to 60, enabling them to study at their own pace, as well as where and when it suits them best, whether that’s a full degree or modules towards higher technical qualifications.

Institutions and their staff clearly need to engage in significant redesign work to support episodic patterns of learning and its assessment. Until now, university systems have largely operated at programme level. Moving to a credit-based approach is not simply an evolution; it is a revolution, and the scale of that change is not yet fully recognised.

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Supporting staff through this redesign process is essential. This is about far more than systems change. Academic and curriculum leaders need to be supported in rethinking how to enable and sustain learning in a genuinely flexible system.

For those leaders, this is an exciting prospect because it invites us to rethink programme architecture, not merely modes of delivery. How do we design programmes that can be entered at different points? How do we maintain coherence when students study intermittently? How do we foster belonging when participation is not continuous? And how do we create assessment approaches that remain authentic, inclusive and meaningful for those with varied engagement patterns?

In my sector-wide work, I repeatedly encounter assumptions embedded within programme design that are rarely made explicit. We often assume regular weekly attendance. We assume consistent time availability throughout a semester. We assume progression follows a predictable, linear path. We assume confidence navigating academic environments and identification primarily as “student”.

These assumptions shape almost every aspect of programme design, from assessment patterns to timetabling, tutoring arrangements and expectations of engagement. While this may have been reasonable for traditional full-time provision, retaining these assumptions unchecked is problematic for lifelong learning students. The result is that we are attempting to build a flexible system on top of an inflexible academic model.

If lifelong learning becomes a significant component of the higher education landscape, aspects of the academic model itself will need to evolve. Without thoughtful redesign, flexibility risks becoming fragmentation. Questions about assessment, belonging and coherence are not peripheral concerns. How do we enable students to step in and out of study without losing momentum? How do we sustain a sense of academic community when participation is intermittent? How do we ensure that programmes retain intellectual integrity when learning accumulates over extended periods?

Recognising this challenge, I have developed a toolkit for higher education leaders, Designing Curriculum for Real Student Lives, through my visiting fellowship at Oxford Lifelong Learning. The toolkit is designed to support strategic and academic leaders who are shaping lifelong learning provision, modular curricula and flexible pathways. Its premise is simple: we need to design for the students who are participating in our programmes, not the ones we imagine.

The toolkit supports institutions through five stages. First, it helps teams surface and challenge hidden assumptions within programme structures. Second, it encourages the use of evidence to better understand students’ lived experiences. Third, it applies established design principles, including universal design for learning, belonging-centred approaches, co-creation and authentic assessment for learning. Fourth, it uses participatory redesign methods, including curriculum charrettes, to engage students, staff and stakeholders collaboratively. Finally, it focuses attention on practical, testable interventions, rather than large-scale transformational projects that could prove difficult to sustain.

This work is not about responding passively to policy. It is about leading change and creating educational experiences that genuinely reflect contemporary student lives. Although the toolkit has been developed in response to the LLE in England, the issues it addresses are international. Across Europe, North America, Asia and beyond, institutions are grappling with similar questions about lifelong learning, flexibility and participation.

If we fail to address these structural issues, there is a danger that lifelong learning becomes something we claim to support but struggle to deliver effectively. Students might find themselves adapting to systems designed for a different era, while staff face growing pressure to reconcile flexibility with structures never intended to accommodate it.

LLE readiness, therefore, must mean more than compliance. It must mean creating academic structures capable of supporting flexible and episodic learning in practice. If we treat the LLE as a technical change, implementation will remain difficult. If we recognise it as a structural and academic challenge to which we should rise, it has the potential to transform higher education for the better.

Harriet Dunbar-Morris is professor of higher education and pro vice-chancellor academic and provost at the University of Buckingham, as well as visiting fellow at Oxford Lifelong Learning at the University of Oxford. In September she will take up the position of deputy president and chief academic officer designate at South East Technological University, Ireland.

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