Active Participation of Adults in Continuing Education: The Role of Regional Economy and Development of Key Industries

Abstract

Due to labour market instability, there is an increasing interest in tools for adapting human capital to sectoral transformations of regional economy. One of effective tools is short training and retraining programmes foremployees. The study examines the relationship between the economic development of Russian regions and participation of the adult population in continuing education programmes. To this end, the research analysed data on the implementation of three educational initiatives of the Government of the Russian Federation introduced in 2020–2021 to support employment. The sample consists of 350 thousand respondents participating in three federal initiatives: vocational training programmes and additional vocational education for people affected by the coronavirus infection (2020), the «Older Generation» (2020) and «Employment Promotion» (2021) federal projects. It was found that continuing education programmes are more popular in economically strong regions. Additionally, industries seen as drivers of regional development attract more citizens to participate in relevant programmes. A better match between educational programmes and the sectoral structure of regional economy is observed in regions with high labour productivity, indicating a close interaction between employers and educational organisations. Results of demonstration exams on different competencies for older people revealed a direct correlation between industry development in a region and the mastery of skills of students. The study developed and justified a new approach to determining the correspondence between the structure of education and the structure of regional economy through comparing the share of trainees and the share of gross value added for various industries. The findings can be useful to experts working in adult education, university heads, employment service specialists, regional operators of federal projects responsible for the implementation of lifelong learning programmes in Russia.