The directions and the purposes of education changed during the history. Nowadays we can say that there are three main purposes of education: humanistic, economic and social. With the development of eduacation there is the development of distance education, which has an important role in maritime professions. The concept of lifelong education is becoming more and more important mostly because of the rapid changes in technologies. This is why the constant training and development of human resources is necessary. In the past there was no seafarer education as there is nowadays. Practical knowledge was required in the past. In the proportion to the level of the development, the maritime industry has increased professional compentencies demands. In the maritime industry continously improving knowledge and training skills is necessary. The reason for this is technological development and safety of the crew, cargo, ship and environment. Seafarer education consist of regular education system and special training programs (courses). International Maritime Organisation has recognized long time ago the need for continous monitoring of the labour market. Organisation also formalized it through a defined educational programs.