Functions of Distance Higher Education in Construction of Lifelong Education System

In the 21st century,education,especially higher education plays a more and more important role.The realization of life-long education and the construction of learning society has become the demand of the times.The paper analyzes the important part the distance higher education plays in promoting lifelong education and constructing learning society,emphasizes its basic status and discusses its positions as adult education,continuing education and various occupational training,and proposes ways to construct lifelong education and learning society with Chinese characteristics by expanding distance higher education into enterprises,communities and rural areas.