Recently, an international collaborative exchange "The Getting of Wisdom" was organised by the peak adult and community education bodies of Australia (Adult Learning Australia) and New Zealand (ACE Aotearoa), in partnership with ELOA (Education and Learning by Older Adults) - a research network of ESREA (European Society for Research into the Education of Adults).  The gathering focussed on diverse contexts, social inequalities and empowerment/identity in later life.

Particularly worth noting in this edition are calls for papers relating to the conference on Communities in New Media [GeNeMe '17] in Dresden, the World Congress on Access to Postsecondary Education in São Paulo, the conference on Networked Learning in Zagreb (see Conferences), the conference of the European Access Network (EAN) in Giessen, the conference "Learning Journey - Adult Educators and Social Change" in Tallinn (see Networks and Organisations), the conference on the Non-Traditional Student Perspective (EMPLOY) in Seville (see Projects) and the TVET@Asia issue on Informal Learning (see Publications).

As more large private providers collapse, a new report argues for the superiority of TAFE over higher education in terms of job outcomes, and recent research shows that lifelong learning doesn't just change your life, it can change your brain.

Whatever the other surprises it brought, 2016 was an important year for international statements and declarations on cities and urban policy. Among the most significant, 2016 saw the publication of the Basque Declaration from the Covenant of Mayors in Europe in April, the Glasgow Declaration from the PASCAL International Conference on Learning Cities in June 2016, the Bogota declaration from United Cities Local and Regional Governments (UCLG) at their World Summit in October 2016 and culminated in the Quito declaration on the New Urban Agenda agreed at the UN Habitat III meeting also in October 2016.