Students' self-directed learning (SDL) is analysed as a means to promote the development of professionals in the conditions of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). The aim of the study was to analyse the components of SDL and to find out SDL results from the students of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU) and the Ural Federal University (URFU) in the context of skills topical for 4IR, and assess their mutual coincidence. The problem whether the students' actual SDL skills meet the 4IR skill reaching demands is assessed in the study. The method of questionnaire was used to investigate the students' selfassessment on their SDL focusing on purposefulness, responsibility, motivation to reach learning outcomes, interest, cognition need, understanding of knowledge and skills usage, implementation of effective learning strategies, control assessment of learning progress, critical thinking, problem solving, time management, cooperation and appropriate usage of IT. The results of the study were obtained from 43 LLU and 28 URFU engineering students. SDL can be effective, if it corresponds to the indicators of professionalism and learning outcomes; that is why labour market and professionalism traits should be followed up constantly. Learning outcomes and SDL should be revised regularly, because they depend on the development of 4IR technologies and labour market demands. The study results also indicate that more attention should be paid to students' time management skills and learning abilities. As SDL is a complicated process consisting of various indicators, affecting factors should be analysed and assessed in further investigations in comparison with 4IR skills.