Associate Member

Volkshochschulverband Baden - Württemberg e. V. - Association of the Popular Universities in Baden - Württemberg

Who we are?

We are the provincial association of the Volkshochschulen/Popular Universities in Baden-Württemberg with legal seat in Leinfelden-Echterdingen.

Our members are 173 regional branches with approximately 720 local sub-branches. They provide a great variety of courses in the field of continuing education for all groups of the population in all parts of our state. Educational offers range from general and political education through foreign language courses and vocational further training to classes in visual arts and creativity and health education.

What we do?

The Volkshochschule ( popular university ) is a non-profit organisation that is

  • easily accessible for all citizens,
  • without bias in ideological and religious issues,
  • politically independent.

The Volkshochschule is a centre for learning, discussion, health and culture.

It is the local centre for further education and as such contributes to the planning of a future worth living.

  • It helps people to meet the demands of the working world. It offers qualified and qualifying knowledge for general orientation. In this way it supports people to cope more easily with radical social change.
  • It facilitates the dialogue between generations, sexes, classes, cultures and thereby fosters the integration of the different groups of society.
  • It works towards social balance by establishing an affordable access to further education for all citizens and thus contributes to democratisation.
  • It helps to develop and improve the infrastructure of municipalities and districts and by doing so strengthens the position of Baden-Württemberg.

Target Groups

The 173 Volkshochschulen in Baden-Württemberg with their approximately 720 sub-branches reach almost 2 million people per year with their immense amount of 2.5 million lessons in over 110.000 courses. The vhs offers courses for all interested citizens. One of its principle goals is to bring together people with different interests, people of different age-groups and walks of life and give them the chance to learn together. Moreover the vhs aims at various target groups. There are special courses for children, adolescents and seniors, women, fathers, disabled people, unemployed people, and foreign citizens.

Range of Topics

The wide range of topics offered by Volkshochschulen can be divided into five main fields:

  1. Politics – Society – Environment with courses for discussion, single events and study trips on topical issues covering contemporary history and politics, economy and law, philosophy and natural science, ecology and consumer issues, family and education and last but not least geography.
  2. Culture – Creativity with seminars on art and literature, theatre and media as well as numerous creative workshops on dancing and music, painting, drawing, printing, sculpturing, fashion and sewing.
  3. Health with a wide variety of relaxation and gymnastics courses and with courses on healthy nutrition, addiction, psychosomatics, diseases and curing methods, health care and health policy.
  4. Languages with basic and advanced courses in over 40 languages, e. g. Arabic and Chinese, German as a foreign language, English, French, Italian and Spanish and even Turkish and Hungarian.
  5. Work/Occupation with special courses on information and communication techniques, multimedia, office and business work , technical issues and other tailored courses.

The various course forms include intensive morning classes on weekdays, compact courses on weekends, long term courses and holiday courses all of which are based on modern adult methodology.

Furthermore the vhs offers its participants the possibility to take part in examinations qualifying for vocational training ( graduation from different types of schools ) or for better jobs ( examinations of the German Chamber of Commerce ). In language classes participants can be prepared for special language examinations, e.g. examinations in European languages of the International Certificate Conference, examinations of the Goethe-Institut, examinations of the University of Cambridge. The latter can be taken in more than 20 sub-centres all over Baden-Württemberg.

Our best practices

Most of the Volkshochschulen work together as members of the German association of Volkshochschulen (DVV) and co-operate with European partner organisations for adult education.

They locally co-operate with numerous institutions, such as places of cultural interest in the municipality, job centres and various local organisations and clubs.

The Association of Volkshochschulen

The major tasks of the association of Volkshochschulen in Baden-Württemberg founded in 1967 are:

  • Representation of the interests and the image of the Volkshochschulen at state and national level.
  • Advisory service for its members concerning the planning of their programmes, political and financial matters as well as legal issues and business management.
  • Conception and organisation of numerous examinations in the fields of languages and occupation.
  • Conception and organisation of teacher training and workshops for the over 30.000 freelance teachers and the employed and honorary working staff.

EAEA brings together
120 organisations from 43 countries.

Members in Germany

Associate member

Landesverband der Volkshochschulen Schleswig-Holsteins e.V. - Association of Adult Education Centres in Schleswig-Holstein

The Landesverband der Volkshochschulen Schleswig-Holsteins e.V. is the professional association of the adult education centers (Volkshochschulen, VHS) in Schleswig-Holstein. The main...
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Associate member

Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V. - Adult Education Centre in the District of Cham e.V.

VHS Cham is a non-profit association in Upper Palatinate that provides courses in the field of society, vocation, languages, health,...
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Associate member

Volkshochschule Bonn Adult Education Center Bonn

Volkshochschule Bonn is a municipal center for further education and provides comprehensive measures of general, political, career-related, health-related, cultural and...
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Associate member

Volkshochschulverband Baden - Württemberg e. V. - Association of the Popular Universities in Baden - Württemberg

We are the provincial association of the Volkshochschulen/Popular Universities in Baden-Württemberg with legal seat in Leinfelden-Echterdingen.
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Associate member

Verband der Volkshochschulen des Saarlandes e.V.

The Adult Education is a very important part of life. Adult Education Centers offer courses in general, professional, cultural and...
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Ordinary member

Katholische Erwachsenenbildung Deutschland - Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft e.V. (KEB Deutschland e.V.) - Catholic Adult Education of Germany

The KEB represents the interests of the Catholic providers of adult education vis-à-vis the German Federal Government, the German Bishops’...
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Associate member

Europäische Bildungs - und Begegnungszentren e.V. - European Centres for Culture and Communication

EBZ consists of nine independent cultural and educational organisations in eight different countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden...
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Associate member

Deutsche Institut für Erwachsenenbildung – Leibniz-Zentrum für Lebenslanges Lernen (DIE) - The German Institute for Adult Education - Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning

DIE is an extra-mural research and infrastructure institute partly financed by the Federal Government and the Federal States and member...
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Ordinary member

Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. (DVV) - German Adult Education Association

The German Adult Education Association (Deutsche Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. – DVV) promotes the further training and education work of the adult...
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Ordinary member

Deutsche Evangelische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Erwachsenenbildung e.V. (DEAE)

The DEAE eV is an institution dedicated to the field of adult education within the Evangelical Church. It is committed to...
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Associate member

Bayerischer Volkshochschulverband e.V. - Bavarian Adult Education Association

The Bavarian Association for Adult Education (bvv)* was founded in 1946 as the regional organization of the adult education centres...
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Ordinary member

Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten e.V. (AdB) - Association of German Educational Organizations

We are an association made up of approximately 170 continuing education centres throughout Germany with various profiles – youth education...
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Associate member

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Katholisch-Sozialer Bildungswerke in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (AKSB) - Association for Catholic-Social Educational Centres in the Federal Republic of Germany

The Christian understanding of humanity and Christian social ethics are the basis of our educational work.
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Ordinary member

Bundesarbeitskreis Arbeit und Leben e.V. DGB/VHS - Work and Life

We are a youth and adult political education institution that is supported by the German Federation of Trade Unions and...
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Associate member

Agentur für Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung - Agency of Adult and Further Education

The Agency for Adult and Further Education (Agentur für Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung) is an organisationally autonomous institution established on the...
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