The article describes the features of continuing education for adults in the foreign and domestic experience. It is noted that the formation of policy in the field of continuing education in most European countries is caused not only by its economic necessity, but also by its social and cultural significance. The current strategy of the Russian adult education development is built with the world trends and the need for integration into the world educational space. Among the new forms of adult education Master's training takes a special place. The paper presents a Master's degree and features of its organization in the modern university on the basis of the competence approach. It's given that the implementation of the competence-based approach to adult learning requires a selection of adequate maintenance, new forms and methods of training, a change of educational programs pace development, a special value acquiring such forms of adult education, which can ensure the continuity of teacher education: the possibility of obtaining, updating and maintaining professional knowledge, enrichment and development of professional experience, acclimatization to changes in the professional field, addressing the need for professional self-realization and self-education and inclusion in the independent work of students. As an example, possibilities of the master program "Adult Education" aimed at training specialists in the field of adult education are represented. The program was developed and implemented by the Department of Pedagogy of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. The aim of this program is to provide graduates capable of successful work in the field of further education, socially responsible, mobile, ready to continue their education and inclusion in innovations based on the mastery learning universal and professional competencies in the field of adult education. Determinants of successful implementation of the Master's program "Adult Education" are high-quality educational programs designed to meet the professional and educational needs of individual students. Humanitarian technologies take a special place in this program, which are a crucial tool for the harmonization of the relationship between a man and a social environment. The main feature of humanitarian technologies used in the preparation of the master is the technology understanding and cooperation in the vital interests of the individual.
