Supplementary Professional Education as a Socially Relevant Component of Lifelong Learning

摘要

The article specifies an issue of supplementary education and supplementary professional education, as its' constituent, viewed as alternative to traditional education. The authors define lifelong learning based on andragogy studies. The article presents the origin of the term 'supplementary education'. The article describes lifelong education from economic standpoint, i.e. its' contribution to overcome economic crisis worldwide. Moreover, the authors specify lifelong education in Europe and the USA, namely, study courses for employees implemented in the USA; cooperation between educational institutions and industries in Great Britain; development of universities' professional aspect in France, etc. In addition, an application of lifelong education in Russia is described. The programme "Translator in the field of professional communication" implemented at the department of foreign languages at the Kazan State Medical University proves supplementary education to be efficient and relevant.