EN
In the study the present state of professional improvement of personnel employed in agricultural advisory centres was estimated, with regard to needs resulting from new social and economic conditions. Local advisory experts suggested the following structure of needs in the range of the content of pofessional improvement: 1. methodology of agricultural advisory activities (20% of the content); 2. technology of agricultural production (20% of the content); 3. economics, organization and marketing (35% of the content); 4. environmental protection and ecological food production (10% of the content); 5. non-agricultural directions of the country people activities (15% of the content). It is necessary to replace traditional methods of improvement with activating methods which enable securing improvement of such advisory skills as: competence for communication, listening, formulating recommendations and so on. Accomplishment of the composite system of professional improvement demands preparing adequate number of lecturers, especially in the range of advisory methodics. The whole of agricultural advisory centres in the sphere of their staff professional improvement should be estimated to be favourable. However, hitherto undertaken educational enterprises insufficiently accomplished the task of incresing methodological competence. Therefore, the chief element of advisory staff improvement which should be reformed is methodology of developing practical skills of the agricultural advisory personnel.