LIFELONG LEARNING FOR UNIVERSITY HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

I. Voloshina, I. Kotlyarova

South Ural State University (National Research University) (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
A university’s human resources are is a prerequisite for its functioning and development in a modern education system. Student-teacher interaction is at the heart of the main educational process of the university. It means that university human resources cover personal resources of all academic staff and students. Therefore, the paper discusses two subsets of human resources: the academic staff‘s human resources and the students’ human resources.

The current state of human resources is characterized by contradictions that result in problems in the successful implementation of the educational process:
a) a contradiction between the need for professionals able to develop high-tech sectors of the economy and the lack of an initial level of education of the students (future specialists) that do not allow them to master an educational program with high-quality results;
b) a contradiction between the development of technologies and production processes in various sectors of the economy and the lack of the university instructors’ competence, that does not allow them to train master’s students to a high scientific and pedagogical level.

These contradictions give rise to two problems, related to the development of the human resources of the university. The first problem is how to improve the educational level of enrolled students. The second – how to train academic instructors so as to develop the required competencies. The solution of these problems is implemented according to a model that describes the work of two departments in the Lifelong Learning Institute: the Department of Academic Staff Training and the Department of Students’ Competencies Development. The model includes a target unit, a content unit, and a delivery unit. The composition of each unit is justified in the paper. The programme was delivered in order to implement competencies development according to the model. To check whether the model was valid an experiment was carried out, based on the use of questionnaire methods and methods for the educational results’ study. Competencies acquired by teachers and students as a result of the programme were evaluated. Experimental data and conclusions based on their statistical treatment confirmed the hypothesis about the essential development of the competencies mastered. An increase in all studied criteria was achieved; empirical research data that characterize the state of human resources at the University before and after the experiment appear to be statistically distinguishable. The experimental work has confirmed the correctness of the theoretical assumptions concerning the model of the Lifelong Learning Institute departments’ activities for university human resource development.
keywords: additional professional education, lifelong learning institute, competence development, model, a target unit, a content unit, a providing unit.