Learning Regions in Hungary as a research projects aims to describe communities, territories and regions that can be called the spatial centres of learning. The aim of the research is to explore and analyse the economic, political, and cultural that contribute to the creation of a learning region; to identify, describe, and compare the regional units as learning communities as well as their cooperation as future "learning regions" (Kozma et al, 2016). We analysed the establishment, organisation and development of learning regions by four dimensions: venues of formal education, systems of vocational training and non-vocational adult education, forms of cultural learning and communal activities.

The project has some antecedents, including various endeavours to evaluate ‘the spatial structure of social learning’ (Erdei et al, 2011). The LeaRn Project was modelled on the Canadian Composite Learning Index (Canadian Council of Learning, 2010), European Lifelong Learning Index (Hoskins et al, 2010) and the German Atlas of Learning (Schoof et al, 2011). Recent research tried to describe the territorial emergence of ‘learning regions’ and ‘learning cities’. The LeaRn presents the regional distribution of the statistics of lifelong learning which completes the traditional ‘distribution of knowledge’ in Hungary and may contribute to a more equitable view of the different territories of the country.

Goal of this research is to reveal situation of Hungarian non- vocational adult education. Non-formal learning covers a wide field of learning outside the school system. It does not mean only vocational education, but several type of general education forms (eg. competence developing courses, hobby courses).

Non-formal learning has various definitions. In an international context, its key document is the Memorandum on Lifelong Learning. The notion by all means refers to organised learning taking place outside the framework of schools. The major interpretational problem here is locating vocational trainings outside the school system. According to the most often quoted definition differentiating between formal and non-formal training/learning.

The contents of non-formal training can be very diverse, in accordance with the contents of the trainings in the same category. Partly based on theoretical considerations and partly on research on the precedents, we examine non-formal training emphatically from the aspect of the labour market. Even though we are aware that it has components which cannot be directly linked to labour market efficiency – as vocational training also has social, region developmental, etc. functions as well –, but at the same time we know partially from previous Hungarian surveys (Györgyi, 2003, Török, 2006) that participation in vocational training (in Hungary) is basically aimed at keeping or improving a position on the labour market. Based on the European Union’s national reports on education (Eurydice) it can again be outlined that – perhaps with the exception of a few countries (such as Sweden) – adult education is interpreted partly (to a smaller extent) as adult education in a school framework, and partly as non-formal training providing professional knowledge. The interconnections of learning and the labour market is a central question also in the case of OECD, Educational at a Glance, an annual statistical publication focusing on education, represents this view with a wide range of indicators.

Non-formal training has gained a special significance with the increase in need for lifelong learning. The latter notion articulates a general need for adult learning, or more precisely, learning from a position already on the labour market, which is connected to employment on the labour market and – resulting from the age of the person in question – own family background. Thus, the chances of taking part in formal education are small, and this necessarily brings to the forefront kinds of learning taking place within non-formal frameworks.

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