EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION RESIDENTS: STATE AND POTENTIAL FOR THE LEARNING REGION DEVELOPMENT

The competitiveness of any country, region or city under conditions of globalization is determined by their ability to learn. The idea of the “learning city or region” has recently become widespread in the global theory of regional development. The “learning city or region” acts as a marker of the successful socio-economic development of a city or a region, the development of its human potential, the basis of the regional education policy. The theoretical rationale, design and experimental verification of the conceptual grounds of the regional education policy requires a careful analysis of both the educational potential of the region and the study of the educational needs of its residents. In order to identify the educational needs of Zaporizhzhia region residents and the level of their satisfaction 400 respondents have been surveyed. The experiment was conducted in the form of a standardized interview using “face-to-face” method by means of a questionnaire which included 20 questions. It was designed according to the specific features of the respondents and was divided into conventional blocks making possible to identify the current state of the education services market in the region and assess its strengths and weaknesses; to analyze the structure of the education services market in the region; to determine educational needs and the needs of the region residents to sort out priorities concerning the opportunities for the education services market development. The analysis of the survey results has revealed the following factors influencing education development in the region: the availability and interrelation of different levels and forms of education; the need for cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders of regional development, the resources sharing; the need for constant dialogue and use of feedback mechanisms in the development and implementation of regional programs and development strategies; the need to encourage the development of social partnership by establishing permanent links between various agencies and organizations of formal and informal education; the need to expand volunteer movement in informal education; the need to establish pilot projects as prospective resource centers for issues of education regional development management.