Courses

Courses

 

one of the ways of training and raising the qualifications of workers for production and management, science, culture, education, public health, and public services. Courses prepare people primarily for occupations and fields of specialization at the lower levels, where long periods of training or, in some cases, completion of education are not required, for example, workers in common occupations. Courses are also organized for instruction in various skills such as stenography, typing, and sewing, for teaching foreign languages, and for preparing persons for enrollment in educational institutions. Courses for raising the qualifications of specialists in various sectors of the national economy have become popular.

Courses may be given regularly or only once. The length of study depends on the aims and content of the course, for example, courses training industrial workers generally last six months. Courses are organized at enterprises, establishments, institutions, schools, and institutes for the advanced training of specialists by ministries, governmental departments, and other agencies, which also supervise the courses. They are closely regulated by rules and laws. Those wishing to enroll must meet certain educational, age, and health requirements. As a rule, instruction is free, and students attending day courses either receive a stipend or are paid the equivalent of their most recent wages. Graduates of courses are usually guaranteed work and have the right to transfer to the occupations for which they have been trained. They become eligible for promotion and higher salaries, as indicated by a certificate or a notation in their work book.

In the USSR in 1971, 17.8 million industrial and office workers (at enterprises, institutions, and establishments) and about 1.6 million collective-farm workers (at the farms) either acquired a new specialization or improved their qualifications through the system of course training.

Workers in many other countries also receive occupational training and improve their qualifications by enrolling in courses.

I. D. KLOCHKOV