摘要：This paper features the results of a study conducted as part of the project ‘The Development of Universities as Centers for the Formation of a Local Environment for the Ongoing Education of the Adult Population of a City’, undertaken by Sochi State University in 2016 as an assignment commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. The paper examines, via a comparative-pedagogical approach, the theoretical and practical foundations of putting together a local environment for adult ongoing education and provides a rationale for the role of universities in the development and operation of a municipal system of ongoing education. The authors share the results of an analysis and systematization of the major trends in adult ongoing education by reference to the current best practices employed domestically and internationally. Based on the findings of a theoretical analysis of relevant research and a problem analysis of the activity of institutions of higher learning operating in local markets for educational services, the authors single out several models for the formation by universities of a municipal educational environment for adult ongoing education and draw a conclusion about the need to develop a more comprehensive, integrative, and consistent model. The paper brings forward a new model for the university operating as a center for the formation of a local environment for adult ongoing education, characterizes its specific components (objective-and-function, content, structural-logistical, instrumental-technological, and organizational-managerial), establishes the prospects for it as a tool for managing the education system, and sets out the key strategies for putting together a local educational environment for adult ongoing education.
