Adult Education at the Crossroads : Learning Our Way Out

Matthias Finger holds doctorates in both Political Science and Adult Education from the University of Geneva and was Associate Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at Columbia University, New York, in 1992-94. He is a Member of the Commision on Environmental Strategy and Planning of the IUCN (the World Conservation Union). He has published widely in English, French and German on social issues including ecology, development, management, adult education and the peace movement. For several years, he edited the magazine Eco-currents. His books include (with Pratap Chatterjee), The Earth Brokers: Power, Politics and Development (London, 1994) and (with Thomas Princen), Environmental NGOs in World Politics: Linking the Global and the Local (London, 1994). He is currently Professor of Management of Public Enterprises at the Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP) in Lausanne. Jose Manuel Asun is a Spanish adult educator who for many years (1984-92) was Director of the Ministry of Education's Adult Education Territorial Centre in Zaragoza. His original university education was at the Universities of Zaragoza, Salamanca and the Universidad Pontifica de Salamanca. In 1993 he went to the Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City where he spent the following three years. When writing this book, he was a research fellow at the University of Barcelona's Centre for Research on the Education of Adults. His professional experience has included a spell as a resident specialist at the UNESCO Institute of Education (Hamburg, Germany). He has also served as the Spanish Government's representative on the IFOMA Programme of UNESCO's regional bureau in Dakar, Senegal. He currently works for the Regional Ministry of Education of Aragon.