ABSTRACT
In view of the institutional diversity and many actors in the further training sphere, greater control of structural policy cannot be achieved with rigid organizational models and ready-made answers. What can be observed at present in this sphere is rather some exploratory processes through which appropriate practical solutions are being tested, as well as what is financially and politically feasible. In what follows, we shall seek to outline some of the elements of regional further education policy. Since little systematic research has been carried out in this field to date, our data are somewhat fragmentary. However, it should be recognized that initiatives for the development of a more systematic further training policy are coming from very different quarters. I shall start with those initiatives coming from below, for it is only if such attempts are made that the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia will be able to incorporate further training into structural policy.
