According to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, lifelong learning is:

• Attitudinal; that one can and should be open to new ideas,
  decisions, skills, or behaviours.

• Providing learning opportunities at all ages and in numerous contexts.

• Accomplished through distance learning or e-learning, continuing education, home schooling, or correspondence courses. It also includes postgraduate programs to improve qualifications, bring skills up to date, or retrain for a new line of work.

• Important, because of the acceleration of scientific and technological progress. The knowledge and skills acquired through a formal education are usually not sufficient for a professional career spanning three or four decades.

According to the American Library Association (ALA, Presidential Committee on Information Literacy Final Report, 1989), information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any decision or task at hand.

Source: www1.worldbank.org/education/lifelong_learning/skills_competences.asp