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SOCIETY OF CONTINUOUS EDUCATION:
UTOPIA OR REALITY?
S. Arsenijevic Z. Avramovic
In Kragujevac, at the time it was the capital of the Principality of Serbia, in 1838 the Lyceum of Serbian Principality was founded, as the first higher education institution in modern Serbia, what today is the University of Kragujevac, and in 1851 the Cannon Foundry, as the originator of the development of military and later the automobile industry complex.
One of the key problems related to the commencement of work of the Lyceum and the Cannon Foundry, as the two pillars on which the future development of Kragujevac should rests, was the lack of qualified staff. For that reason, from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire an engineer, Atanasije Nikolic came to Kragujevac to be the first rector of the Lyceum, and as the first director of the Cannon Foundry, with the consent of the Emperor Napoleon III, the French Army major Charles Lubri. Their job, among other things, was the creation of professional staff in Serbia through education and training, not only the youth at the Lyceum, but all the population structure capable and willing to work in the Cannon Foundry. The process of continuous education commenced in order to form its own personnel, lasts from then until today, which is the root and basis for the development of a strong and modern Kragujevac, today's regional, industrial and university center.
The continuity in its development Kragujevac owes to Lyceum of Serbian Principality and Cannon Foundry; however, their own development and the overall development of the City would not have happened without the continuing education, which today is conducted by the University and Fiat Automobiles Serbia (FAS), the largest foreign investment in Serbia. They conduct continuous education independently fulfilling their duties prescribed by law, or, because of the expressed needs for training and development of employees in FAS, but also together, assembling mutual cooperation agreements to educate students on the one hand, through professional praxes by which they acquire knowledge and skills required for employment, and on the other hand to organize special training courses for the FAS staff, from workers that conduct simplest tasks to engineers, who need additional knowledge to work in the automotive industry. Fiat chose Kragujevac to build its new factory because of the cooperation with the former factory Departments red flag in Kragujevac (ZCZ), which produced automobiles, but also because of the former implementation of continuous education of ZCZ workers, skills in working with tools, and the knowledge gained through formal and informal continuous education, throughout the period of almost 50 years.
The goals of continuous education, started in mid- 19th century, under a different name: the training - further education, which at different times has changed (retraining, additional training) and organized in various forms (courses, evening classes, internal factory schools) remained more or less unchanged to this day: improving of educational and qualification structure, improving the employability of the population; creating the basis for sustainable socio- economic
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development; increasing professional mobility and flexibility of labor active population; reducing poverty, the achievement of equality, social inclusion and intergenerational solidarity and improving quality of life - personal, domestic, natural and social environments. The basic principles on which the process of continuous education began, which has lasted in Kragujevac for more than a century now, remained the same and are based on the need to acquire education, according to already gained experiences and expressed needs of the community and of an individual, to be exact, the needs and demands of the environment and individual or social needs and life and work roles of individuals and social groups.
Formal education is an organized process of learning and professional education adjusted to the needs and abilities of adults and labor market requirements, or an organization or business entity that expresses the need.
Formal education, in accordance with Law, is carried out at all levels of formal education: from primary through secondary (through programs that are adopted) to higher education, where is organized out of adopted study programs. Non-formal education is an organized process of learning and educating on the basis of special programs, in order to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, abilities and skills focused on personal development, labor and employment and social activities. Informal education is a process of independent gain of knowledge, values, attitudes, abilities and skills in everyday life, work and social environment, which occurs in all age groups- both employed and unemployed and students and pupils in primary and secondary schools as well as of all structures. Furthermore, it is mostly represented in the needs of the population of all ages in learning different ways of using information technology for the usage of mobile phones, Internet (in particular social networks), blogs and other forms of communication that not only connect people, but provide the exchange of experiences and knowledge.
Continuous education at the University is implemented through: (1)
Lifelong Learning Center of the University. Organizational and institutional preconditions for the inclusion of the University of Kragujevac in the field of lifelong learning, as well as providing opportunities for completing formally acquired education or to acquire new, additional knowledge in an adequately institutionalized framework, which will result in raising quality of human resources, with equal and equitable, individual approach to learning, were created with the establishment of the Centre for talented and motivated individuals, and for categories such as: employers and entrepreneurs, employed and the unemployed, skilled and unskilled workers, the unemployed who lost their jobs in the process of transition, the disabled, ethnic minorities, refugees and displaced persons, as well as for the citizens of mature age. (2) Center for Career Development and Student Counseling of the University.The Centre was established with the aim to prepare students for entering the job market after graduation, to connect with the business community and provide them with support in the acquisition of the knowledge and skills that are now required in the labor market and help them after graduation to adequately present themselves in the business world, and its activity is based on the principle of continuous improvement of work through the development of new applications and services and constant education of Centre’s employees.
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The city of Kragujevac’s experience in continuous learning, thanks to which the city has continuity in its development, is still, after almost two centuries, not just a condition for development, but also the base for its future. But, what is more important is the knowledge, not only of his political and social factors, but also students, the unemployed and employed citizens, that the essence of sustainability of achieved development, and their personal engagement and prosperity, makes continuous education as a "conditio sine qua non".
Therefore, our conclusion is- continuous education is a reality, not utopia.
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