Needs of Industrial Companies as the Point of Departure in Continuing Education

Abstract

Conventionally, continuing education has been planned by taking the needs of the students as the point of departure. A new continuing education concept has been developed in which the point of departure for programme planning is the needs of industrial companies. The hypothesis is that, if the continuing education programme is designed to help the companies, the needs of the other interest groups will be better fulfilled at the same time. This paper outlines the new concept, describes its application in a pilot programme, and assesses the outcomes of that programme. The feasibility of the new concept is assessed from the perspectives of the various interest groups, both shortly after the programme and in a longitudinal study The prime target of meeting the needs of the companies was achieved, and the needs of other interest groups were also fulfilled – to some extent even more effectively than through more conventional approaches.