Deutsch Intern
Adult Education Academy

Prof. Elena Rizova

Professor Elena Rizova, PhD, is a Full Professor at the Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. She holds a doctorate in Pedagogical Sciences, but her academic and research interests are focus on adult education and lifelong learning.


Throughout her academic career, Professor Rizova has held a range of leadership and advisory positions. She is a member of the Higher Education Accreditation Board within the Agency for Quality in Higher Education and President of the Adult Education Council of North Macedonia. She also serves as Head of the Lifelong Learning Centre at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. Her expertise has informed the development of national strategic documents guiding educational reform and development.


Professor Rizova has led and contributed to twenty national and international projects addressing adult education, lifelong learning, vocational education and training, professional development, educational policymaking, and national qualifications frameworks. Her work connects academic research, educational policy, and professional practice to advance opportunities for learning throughout life.

Professor’s Rizova research and teaching interests encompass adult education, educational policy, lifelong learning, adult literacy, professional and career development, quality in higher and adult education and vocational education and training.

CG12: Community well-being, adult learning and education, social transformation

In contemporary societies, well-being is no longer understood merely as an individual condition but increasingly as a collective and relational achievement shaped by social bonds, civic participation and shared learning experiences. Adult learning and education (ALE) holds significant – yet underexplored – potential to foster community well-being by strengthening social cohesion, empowering marginalized groups, and supporting the development of what Sen (1999) calls “human capabilities”. While international frameworks such as UNESCO’s Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education (RALE, 2015) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3 and SDG 11) explicitly connect lifelong learning to well-being and sustainable communities, how this connection is translated into policies, programmes, and institutional practices varies considerably across national and regional contexts. Some countries embed well-being explicitly in their adult education frameworks; others address it only implicitly, as a by-product of social inclusion or civic education initiatives. This comparative group invites participants to investigate how adult education contributes to community well-being in their own national contexts, examining both the institutional actors involved and the policy frameworks that shape their action. 


Expected learning outcomes:

  • Analyse how community well-being is conceptualised in relation to ALE across different national contexts; 
  • Identify and compare policies, programmes, and practices that explicitly on implicitly address well-being through adult learning;
  • Develop comparative analytical skills through transnational dialogue and essay writing;
  • Reflect critically on the role of ALE as a driver of social transformation and community flourishing

Krstanoska, M., & Rizova, E. (2025). Andragogical aspects of teacher training in adult education: The Macedonian context. Adult Education, 25(1), 77–88.
https://doi.org/10.53617/issn2744-2047.2025.25.1.77


Rizova, E., & Todorov, G. (2025). The pedagogue in pedagogical-andragogical work with convicted persons in the process of resocialization. Annual of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, 78(1), 107–118. https://doi.org/10.37510/godzbo25781107r


Rizova, E., & Lazova, L. (2024). The labor market and the skills needs development among adults in the Republic of North Macedonia. Annual of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, 77(1), 107–117. https://doi.org/10.37510/godzbo2477095r


Rizova, E. (Ed.). (2023). Research for best practices of inclusion of adults with disabilities on the labor market. https://repository.ukim.mk/server/api/core/bitstreams/c63387bc-31bb-4091-974f-e50cd0317bf9/content


Rizova, E., Bekar, M., & Velkovski, Z. (2020). Educational challenges of Roma minorities: The case of the Republic of North Macedonia. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education, 8(3), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.23947/2334-8496-2020-8-3-113-122

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                               

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