Mechanisms of lifelong learning: the spread of innovative short-cycle higher education qualifications within national systems

This study examines the process of the dissemination of innovative short-cycle higher education qualifications within European national lifelong learning systems. Using qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, the study focuses on the cases of the Netherlands and Flanders, and traces the emergence of the new idea, its metamorphosis within and communicating through the social systems, and the main proponents behind that process.