Adult education centre; registration, re-registration and deregistration

Adult education centres offer a wide range of courses in the following programme areas

• Politics – Society – Environment
• Culture – Design
• Health
• Languages
• Work – Career
• Basic education – school qualifications

The programmes are tailored to participants’ interests in career guidance, education and skills development. They are designed to help participants realise their individual potential, support their professional development and help them update their skills, and contribute to their social integration.

By offering courses in literacy, basic education and the opportunity to catch up on school qualifications, adult education centres also provide a second chance for educationally disadvantaged groups. Since the ‘Immigration Act’ came into force, they have been operating nationwide as providers of integration courses. Certificates play a particularly important role in foreign languages and vocational training, and reflect the demand for recognised proof of achievement.

Programmes spanning different programme areas (e.g. Young Adults’ Adult Education, Education for Older People, intercultural learning), programmes tailored to specific target groups and social backgrounds, as well as bespoke (corporate) programmes, complement the traditional range of courses, as do e-learning and blended learning programmes, some of which are integrated into the work of newly designed ‘learning centres’. Adult education centres (VHS) are taking on new service functions, for example in learning guidance or as initiators and facilitators of local networks and partnerships (e.g. in the ‘Learning Regions’ programme).

You can find information about the courses, seminars, talks and exhibitions organised by the adult education centre in a particular municipality or district on the website of the municipality, the district or the adult education centre.