The article deals with the problem of adult education in the context of globalization. The analysis of scientific pedagogical literature devoted to studying of some aspects of educational activity in adult education has been conducted. The problem of public institutions development and activity has been analyzed in the broad context of "globalization." Possibilities and threat for the work of "the third sector" have been explored. The tendency of deepening international cooperation of public organizations in adult education with the increase of their interdependence and competition has been emphasized. The article deals with the historical and pedagogical issues of educational activities in the field of adult education. Much attention has been given to social problems of the subject (the problem of human's social protection, the necessity of a systematic solution of a range of socially-oriented issues in the education sphere, the focus of the social educational work's vector in the field of nonformal adult education). The features of internationalization of educational activities in the field of adult education have been defined. Methodology of the problem's research has been researched. Transnational research has been conducted with the help of functional analysis method, which allows to allocate complex international requirements in national standards of public organizations. It has been determined that at present there is increase of integration processes in national European systems which influence the change of their structure and creation of regional and general world models of adult and informal education.