We learn as long as we live. We learn from each others, we learn from books, we learn from nature, but most of all we learn from our experiences. Education is the experience which forms the mind and the body. Without it we would not be competent or we would not be able to face all the challenges that life presents.Education is a process through which we accumulate knowledge, skills and competencies. Continuing education means improvement, capability, performance, competence. It represents a way of permanently being up to date, that is to keep up with new developments, new challenges, and new technologies.
Generally, continuing education is intended for adults, being a process of acquiring new skills, competencies and knowledge, in addition to those assimilated during school, in order to improve the quality of life, for personal fulfillment or for employment. Adults choose various forms of continuing education either for personal or professional development, obtaining certificates or licenses which are extremely useful for the employment or for practicing a particular profession. Continuous education is compulsory in most of the careers, companies and organizations paying for the continuing education of their employees.
There are various types of continuing education such as training, workshops, conferences, seminars, coaching, job-shadowing, mentoring, online courses. It can be traditional or extremely interactive, orientating the participants to problem solving and making them actively participate and find solutions. The programs of continuing education can last for few days, week-ends, weeks or months.
Considering the fact that continuing education is important for both each and every individual and organization, it can occur in every field and sphere of knowledge. We can take courses on organizational communication, leadership, human resources, personal and personnel development, management, finance, health and safety, industry, information technology, sales, marketing, public relations, linguistics, business etc. All these and more others being characterized by the acquisition of extremely useful knowledge, skills, competencies and by the issuance of various certificates which are extremely important in our careers.
Taking the example of the information technology, which presents itself with daily challenges, adults can follow courses on computer literacy, IT products and services, and IT services management which is vital in business. ITIL, for instance, offers solutions regarding the improvement of IT services, in order to increase the customer' satisfaction, the productivity and to develop skills and performances. Such certifications are the keys for every individual and organization which invests in its personnel in order to gain performance and be successful.