He had made an appointment, he said, because he needed to think through certain things regarding the future direction of his career. He was in his late twenties and essentially, had followed a pattern so common among Mauritian managers of his generation : high school at College du St Esprit, followed by a three-year stint in the UK for a Bachelor?s degree in Commerce, followed by another four years in his current company. ?I am really here to discuss whether I should do the MBA degree,? he asked. ?I now have a bachelor degree, occupy a job as a marketing manager in a well-known firm in Port Louis and believe that I could grow in this organisation for many years to come yet.?

Over the last five years or so, my staff and I must have seen dozens of similar cases. The question is always the same : is there any point in pursuing further education, what would one gain in becoming a professional student? Often the inquirer is in his or her late-forties and has reached pretty much the top in the organisation ? and somehow feels that he or she has begun to lose touch with what?s happening in the world at large. Take Francoise, for example, who was asking me just the other day, ?How do I keep in touch with the latest developments in my field? How do I ensure that I do not become redundant, obsolete both technically and managerially??

It is a fear that nags each one of us, one way or another, here on this island and throughout the rest of the world. And justifiably so. As our society changes into a knowledge and information society, we?ll be facing new opportunities and new challenges in all dimensions of our lives. To keep abreast of changes and to survive, we have to keep learning. As I have said it so often in this column, learning has to be an integral part of our lives as adults. The previous notions we had of one receiving an education early in life, followed by 40 years at work until retirement, are as dead as the proverbial dodo. Learning has now become a lifelong pursuit.

Lifelong learning has indeed emerged as one of the major challenges for the knowledge society of the future. A variety of recent events support this claim: (1) 1996 was the ?European Year of Lifelong Learning,? (2) UNESCO has included ?Lifetime Education? as one of the key issues in its planning, and (3) the G7 group of countries has identified ?Lifelong Learning? as one of its main strategies in its fight against unemployment. Recently, our own government has announced its intention to turn Mauritius into a knowledge hub.

Despite this great interest, like many others, I believe that the issue has to be tackled in a coherent manner. Lifelong learning cannot be handled in isolation by looking just at one small part of it, such as completing one?s HSC or university education or re-educating workers. And for this holistic approach to take place, we must start by dispelling a few myths:

Myth 1: ?Learning means going back to school ? and I am too old.? This is probably the most pervasive of all myths. When challenged, many of my relatives, friends or colleagues at work admit that they still cling tenaciously to the false notion that learning was for when they were at school. Not so. Our jobs have become so knowledge-intensive and fluid in content that learning has now become an integral and inseparable part. Above all, it has to be relevant and embedded in the context of the real and authentic problems that we experience at work.

Myth 2: ?I am ok ? I have qualified.? Being awarded a professional qualification, no matter how prestigious or in demand, is no guarantee that we are set for life. Research at Harvard University confirms that our world is changing and evolving so fast that what you learn today will remain valid for no more than the next three years or so. Learning therefore must be available on demand ? if I have a problem with say, distributing my products efficiently, instant access to the relevant knowledge and skills must be available.

Myth 3: ?I have the experience ? I don?t need more.? Many of us believe that because we have been handling our job for so long, we are on top of it all. We have all the answers. Not true. Again, because our world has become so complex and is so fast changing, experience alone will not suffice in keeping abreast of new developments and launching in new directions. Collective intelligence is crucial ? and the only way you can tap into this intelligence is by learning from others.

Myth 4: ?Learning is for those who have the brains ? the intellectuals." Not true. In the USA alone, part-time enrolment of adult learners jumped from 58 million in 1991 to an astonishing 90 million in 1999! From ordinary housewives to polished intellectuals, many adults throughout the world, including Mauritius, feel the need to periodically swim again in the sea of knowledge.

A change in mentality has to happen on this island. We need to see learning as the development of our human potential and therefore a most laudable endeavour. We need to form, build, shape a learning society that is deeply rooted into our diverse cultures, families, communities and workplaces.

Prof Eric Charoux

[email protected]