The Involvement of the Universities in Adult Education – Compulsion or Necessity?

The world today is not only a knowledge society but also a competitive society, where the competition is one of the fundamental characteristics of contemporary economic and social context. The accelerated dynamics of change in all areas, the high perishability of information, major fluctuations in the labor market and increasing leisure life make adult education a necessity. The competition for adult education involves not only universities but also non-governmental organizations or large corporations. Understanding the exact training needs of adults and providing appropriate educational programs is one of the basic conditions for successful involvement of universities in the competition to attract adults to long life learning programs. Situated in this context, our research aims both to identify the extent to which university teachers are prepared for educational work with adults as well as highlighting possible solutions for correcting existing shortcomings.