Higher Ed’s untapped potential: Universities as Third Spaces
The pandemic entirely disrupted the higher education sector, changing teaching and learning methods, widening social inequalities, and transforming campuses and cities alike into empty real estate. Less than a decade later, universities face a second wave of transformation driven by artificial intelligence, longer working lives, and the accelerating digital and sustainability transitions. Together, these forces are reshaping skills demand at a pace that traditional higher education structures struggle to match1.
Alongside these pressures, universities are being called to act as a ‘home base’ within their regions, not only to educate enrolled students, but also to be responsive to local community skills needs and civic engagement. Though many institutions remain poorly equipped to respond to adult learners whose needs and experiences fall outside formal degree pathways.
Lifelong learning
Lifelong Learning and Adult Learning and Education are widely recognised as essential responses to these challenges. They are seen as tools to strengthen democratic participation, counter polarisation and disinformation, and ensure resilience through upskilling and reskilling across the life course2. In fact, lifelong learning was even declared a right in the European Pillar of Social Rights and is enshrined in SDG4 to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
Despite these merits, adult learning progress on adult learning continues to stagnate in comparison to other SDG4 targets and suffers from a lack of dedicated space and infrastructure for effective teaching delivery3. Similarly, universities have been criticised for their slow adoption of lifelong learning and for not taking advantage of the disruption in the sector post-COVID to adapt their teaching and learning methods to the needs of different learners.
Without a concerted effort in this area, lifelong learning risks remaining a policy aspiration amidst society’s oncoming ‘grey wave’ rather than a lived reality.
Why lifelong learning needs space
One reason for this gap is that lifelong learning is frequently treated as a programme rather than a place. Many adult learners, particularly those from marginalised or underrepresented groups, are poorly served by formal higher education environments. Time constraints, prior educational experiences, and a preference for practice-based or peer learning all shape how adults engage with learning.
Research on non-formal adult learning consistently highlights the importance of accessible, flexible, and community-oriented learning spaces4. Such spaces are particularly important for migrants, senior citizens, micro-entrepreneurs, and others who benefit from learning-by-doing approaches and locally relevant content5. This points to a structural challenge rather than a pedagogical one. Lifelong learning requires environments that sit between formal academic settings and everyday community life.
Universities as third spaces of learning
In a higher education context, third spaces are open, flexible environments that exist between the university and the wider community.
Third spaces are neither traditional classrooms nor purely civic venues, but shared spaces for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and non-formal learning.
When facilitated by universities, third spaces can enable context-specific learning interventions that respond directly to local skills needs. They support co-creation between universities, community organisations, and adult learners, and foster more horizontal forms of knowledge exchange. Crucially, they also challenge hierarchical notions of expertise by recognising the value of experiential and community-based knowledge.
Community learning spaces of this kind have been described as counter-hegemonic. These spaces are crucial for offering citizenship education, critical thinking skills, and developing a radical imagination that formal education can often fail to provide6.
Making better use of space, sustainably
The case for third spaces is further strengthened by the current under-utilisation of physical infrastructure. Since the pandemic, many universities have reported space utilisation rates of only 20 to 30 per cent7. Similar patterns can be observed across cities and workplaces, where occupancy remains below pre-pandemic levels8.
These empty or underused spaces are not only a financial burden. Buildings account for a significant share of global energy-related emissions, meaning that poorly utilised estates carry real environmental costs9. Repurposing existing university infrastructure as community learning spaces, therefore, offers both social and environmental benefits.
For community space providers, the challenge is often the inverse. While physical space may exist, there is frequently a lack of educational content, institutional support, or sustainable collaboration models with universities.
Extending the university’s regional role
By opening their spaces to lifelong learning, universities can strengthen their third mission as economic, social, and cultural contributors to their regions. Third spaces enable institutions to respond more effectively to shifting skills needs, support inclusive learning pathways, and extend their impact beyond their enrolled student population.
This approach aligns closely with European policy priorities, including efforts to strengthen universities’ capacity to support lifelong learners and to improve the recognition and validation of non-formal learning. More importantly, it offers a practical route for universities to translate these ambitions into action.
If universities are serious about lifelong learning, they must look beyond new courses and credentials. They must rethink how their spaces function, who they are for, and how knowledge flows between campus and community. Third spaces provide a tangible way to reconnect universities with the societies they serve, and to unlock higher education’s untapped potential as a driver of inclusive, lifelong learning.
References
1. OECD (2023) OECD Skills Outlook 2023: Skills for a Resilient Green and Digital Transition. https://www.oecd.org/education/oecd-skills-outlook-e11c1c2d-en.htm
2. UIL, (2020). Embracing a culture of lifelong learning: contribution to the Futures of Education initiative. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong https://www.uil.unesco.org/en/embracing-culture-lifelong-learning
3. Belete, S., Duke, C., Hinzen, H., Owusu-Boampong, A., & Khau, H. P. (2022). Community Learning Centres (CLCs) for Adult Learning and Education (ALE): development in and by communities. International Review of Education, 68(2), 259-290. https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/resource-centre/content/community-learning-centres-clcs-adult-learning-and-education-ale
4. UIL, (2017) Community-based learning for sustainable development. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247569
5. EAEA, (2023) EAEA Country Reports reveal 5 key trends emerging in adult education in Europe. https://eaea.org/2023/12/20/eaea-country-reports-reveal-5-key-trends-emerging-in-adult-education-in-europe/
6. Anderson, G. L., Desai, D., Heras, A. I., & Spreen, C. A. (2023). Creating Third Spaces of Learning for Post-Capitalism: Lessons from Educators, Artists, and Activists. Taylor & Francis. https://www.routledge.com/Creating-Third-Spaces-of-Learning-for-Post-Capitalism-Lessons-from-Educators/Anderson-Desai-Heras-Spreen/p/book/9781032384290
7. Times Higher Education (2023) Creating ‘third spaces’ will revolutionise your campus. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/creating-third-spaces-will-revolutionise-your-campus
8. FreeSpace Index, (2023). From Crisis to Opportunity: How the Workplace Transformed 3 Years After COVID https://www.afreespace.com/news/from-crisis-to-opportunity-how-the-workplace-transformed-3-years-after-covid/#:~:text=But%20now%2C%20in%202023%2C%20according,occupancy%20across%20buildings%20and%20regions.
9. International Energy Agency (2023). Technology and Innovation Pathways for Zero-carbon-ready Buildings by 2030. https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings
Ready for more?
If you liked this article, you might also enjoy the article Wageningen Dialogues: Bridging research and community or our podcast episode Lifelong Learning and the personalisation of education.
Madeline Arkins (author) is a former Senior Project Officer at UIIN. In her work, she focused on topics relating to social impact and innovation in regional ecosystems.
