Didactics of continuing education: prospects of scientific professional development at university

the paper deals with the problem of scientific professional development in the context of a multi-level approach to professional training. The expansion of higher education didactics is performed by including the issues of scientific professional development in it. The author analyzes the place of scientific professional development in a modern university system and demonstrates that the labour market demand for skilled workforce, the demographic change in personnel structure, and the differentiation in higher education – encourage merging of core curriculum with professional advancement. The key features of higher education including scientific professional development are presented in the context of higher education didactics. Furthermore, the author specifies the principle directions of the shift in the educational process interpretation: a paradigm shift from instruction to learning, diversification, self-regulation, active learning, partnership, correlation between teaching methods, learning outcomes, and forms of examination. Taking into consideration the practices of Dortmund Center for Research on Higher Education, the article outlines the prospect for the institutional integration of all professional development and higher education didactics services.