Abstract:

Lifelong learning today is considered to be one of the indicators of human capital development estimated as degree of involvement of the country's adult population in it. And it seems reasonable from the point of view of the Decent Work and Future of Work concepts proposed by the International Labor Organization, because nowadays governments and society have come to understand the importance of updating of knowledge and skills of workers as well as self-realization and personal development of all people.

One of the major components of lifelong learning is further professional education (FPE), which includes short programs of professional development for deepening knowledge in a certain field and programs of professional retraining, which allow to master a new profession and get additional qualifications.

It is worth noting that the programs of FPE are characterized by flexible forms of training, a variety of applied methods, high practice orientation, absence of age restrictions, opportunities to create customized programs to meet the needs of a particular customer, as well as building an individual educational path. These features determine the growing demand for FPE programs, as they allow individuals to increase their competitiveness on the labor market, as well as to adapt to it in a fairly short period of time for vulnerable groups of the population.

In 2021, the impact of the global pandemic caused by the spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) on the labor market and lifelong learning cannot be overlooked. High levels of unemployment, significant staff reductions in organizations, reduced purchasing power of the population, increased social and economic inequality of different population groups - all these are just a small part of the consequences that almost all countries in the world have faced in the fight against COVID-19. And today, when people are beginning to gradually return to normal life, the normal work mode, it is important to give them tools that will help them to overcome the crisis and adapt to the new realities of the labor market. Supplementary FPE can be considered such a tool.

FPE as a part of the lifelong learning system has already proven to be an effective tool to overcome the crisis. The study conducted by the authors in 2016-2021 within the framework of MBA programs of the Faculty of Economics at Lomonosov Moscow State University also confirms this thesis: respondents noted that mastering an MBA program helped them to maintain their incomes at the same level and not to lose their jobs during the period of economic instability.

In the context of the lifelong learning, as well as the observed demographic trends, in particular those related to the decrease in the working-age population and the increase in healthy life expectancy, it is especially important to work with older people on their retention and adaptation to the labor market. The results of the TEMPUS study indicate that, through FPE opportunities, older people can become active participants in the labor market. These studies lead us to the conclusion that lifelong learning can be seen as a factor in overcoming social and economic inequalities among workers.

The authors are ready to share their long-term educational and managerial experience in the sphere of adjustment of FPE programs and teaching methods to the distant forms of realisation.

Keywords:

Lifelong learning, further professional education, labor market, social and economic inequalities.