Globalization and its Main Challenges in Comparative (Adult) Education

Globalization can be defined as a constitutive process of increasing interdependence between people, territories and organizations that is advancing in different domains (economic, political, cultural and so on) (Held et al. 2000). Globalization, together with the competitive pressures and the re-scaling dynamics that are associated to it, have introduced multiple challenges and transformations in the education policy field. To name a few of these, in a global economy, education systems are pressured to supply the labor market with new and changing skills; people and companies increasingly invest privately in training initiatives and during longer periods of their life cycle; more and more education services (certification, training, testing, etc.) are delivered by transnational providers; and international organizations are more active in the definition of educational agendas and policies at multiple scales.