National

In 2012, Immigration New Zealand, under the direction of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, developed the New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy in order to establish better policies for accepting and orienting refugees, facilitate English language learning and provide access to healthcare and special services (Benseman, 2014).

CommUniversity, an initiative of the University of Technology (UTech) in Jamaica, is an ‘outreach intervention to create a local community-university network to collaborate learning, exchange of ideas and knowledge for enhancement of life and prosperity, through partnerships with public, private agencies, and individuals’ (Bartley-Bryan, 2013, p. 2). The concept of the CommUniversity is aligned to one of the UTech strategic goals for national impact: assisting local communities in building their capacities for learning, growth and development.

Volkshochschulen (VHS) are adult learning centres founded on principles of liberal education and offering a range of programmes, including languages, general education and cultural learning. In addition, they increasingly provide vocational courses (EAEA, 2011). Since VHS are local institutions overseen by municipalities, they serve as community meeting points for neighbours to interact and build relationships and trust. The approximately 900 adult education centres in Germany offer around 700,000 events a year – courses and lectures, study trips and excursions. With around nine million participants, adult education centres are the largest provider of general adult education in Germany (DVV, 2011).

Community Learning Centres (CLCs) were introduced in Myanmar to ensure continuous learning and community development for out-of-school populations, with the concept ‘By them, With them, For them’ (Myanmar Education Consortium, 2013, p. 6). With support from UNDP and UNESCO, a small-scale pilot project enabled 31 Community Learning Centres to be set up to provide non-formal education and community development services in rural areas where access to education was low. Between 1995 and 2012, Myanmar set up over 3,000 CLCs.

In 2012, Germany passed a federal law to streamline recognition of professional qualifications. Foreign nationals can gain recognition regardless of residence status or citizenship. They can make a legal claim for recognition and receive a decision within three months. Professional qualifications obtained abroad are checked for compatibility with German professional requirements.