Quality in Adult Education in the Context of Higher Education

The concept of adult education and the trending patterns will be discussed before defining adult will be explained followed by definition of quality, adult education, quality education and others.There is a section set aside for definition of key terms.Globally, the growth and importance of adult education in development cannot be over-emphasized particularly in adult and higher education institutions where the enrolment of the adult education population constitute between 40-45% (Mclallum, 2012) With the demand of adult education rising to these unprecedented levels as a result of provision of access through open and distance education, the issues of quantity versus quality become topical and of great concern to both public and private sectors.Allen and Seaman (2016)"s report on online learning shows that enrolment in distance education is still growing, with a rate of 3.9% despite the public outcry for lack of quality in both its processes and outcomes.Shava, (2021) have raised concern regarding quality in Primary School Teachers Education Colleges, Open and Distance Learning (ODL) teacher development programmes and declining quality assurances in higher education.In all the three contexts mentioned, the learners are adults who come to these institutions with vast amount of varied experiences attained from their previous socialisation.In addition they also come with varied hopes and expectations to be fulfilled during the course of their learning.Viewed specifically in the context of higher education in Africa, (Schindler et al., 2015; raise fundamental questions regarding the definition of quality and acknowledge the fact that defining quality is problematic.They stress the point that quality has many stakeholders among which includes teachers, lecturers, administrators, researchers, decision makers and others who have differing perceptions on it.Some have perceived quality in the context of power relations and its influence in organizations, Morley, (2003).In her book, Quality and Power in Higher Education, interrogates several critical issues on quality such as equality, gender, globalization and some aspect of knowledge economy which to a large extent influence the dynamics of quality and its sub systems such as quality audit, quality assurance, quality enhancement and quality management.Others like Deming (2016) define quality in terms of customer satisfaction.