Arthur Acland Centenary Symposium

Adult Education: Past, Present, and Future
Friday 6 March 2026
South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London

To mark the centenary of the death of Arthur Acland—politician, educationalist, advocate of cooperativism, and long-standing Trustee and benefactor of Imperial College London—this one-day symposium brings together leading scholars to explore the history, present condition, and future possibilities of adult and community education. While rooted in Acland’s influential vision, the event situates his work within a wider intellectual and social tradition that has understood education as a lifelong, civic, and transformative endeavour extending far beyond formal schooling.

At a moment when universities, cultural institutions, and policymakers are actively reassessing the purposes and value of adult learning, the symposium offers a space for historical reflection, contemporary case studies, and forward-looking debate. In doing so, it considers how adult education has evolved across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the tensions shaping it today, and the roles it may continue to play in cultural life, democratic participation, and social change.

 

Speakers

Professor Lawrence Goldman (University of Oxford)
Arthur Acland — Keynote Address

Professor Mark Freeman (University College London)
The Vital Message: Continuing Education and the University of Cambridge, 1945–2010

Dipa Ganguli OBE (WM College, London), Dr Benjamin Grant (University of Oxford) and Dr Michael Paraskos (Imperial)
Naming Adult Education: A Conversation Between Adult Education Providers

Thomas Chaurin (University of Edinburgh)
Tensions between vocational lifelong learning and broader forms of cultural, civic, or leisure education: case studies from the UK and beyond

Dr Michael Weatherburn (Imperial)
G.D.H. Cole, the First World War, and the 1918 Education Act

Professor Tom Woodin (University College London)
Arthur Acland, co-operation and citizenship

Themes

The aim of the symposium is to present interesting ideas and act as a place for discussion and debate. The symposium addresses:

  • Acland’s legacy in adult education, cooperativism, and liberal learning

  • The historical development of continuing and community education in universities

  • Ongoing tensions between vocational training and broader cultural or civic purposes

  • Innovative national and international models of adult learning

  • The future of lifelong education in changing social, economic, and policy contexts

 

Convenor: Dr Michael Paraskos 

Date: Friday 6 March 2026 - 10:30 to 16:30
Location: Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication, Level 3 Sherfield Building West, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ

Registration is free. To register please click here. All welcome.