Leipzig Adult Education Center

The Leipzig Adult Education Center is the municipal continuing education center for all Leipzig residents. Founded in 1922, it offers over 4.000 course offerings every year with the help of around 750 freelance course instructors. Its tradition goes back to the Enlightenment and workers’ education movement. Today, it stands for lifelong learning, a wide range of high-quality educational offerings, the combination of education, communication and experience, individual advice and competent service as well as socially acceptable remuneration. The Adult Education Center offers educational opportunities for all-round and professional development, interesting leisure activities and opportunities to get to know other people, their ideas and experiences.

History

In 1928, after prolonged negotiations, the “School of Labour” was opened at what is now Stieglitzstraße 40, a Bauhaus-style building whose structure and exterior design reflected the idea of collaborative workgroups. Around a centrally located large communal learning and meeting space, the upper floor features small, cell-like rooms for students, recognizable by their small windows. To this day, this building remains the only purpose-built facility ever constructed for the Leipzig Adult Education Center.

Following its reestablishment in 1946, the Leipzig Adult Education Center was allocated two adjacent buildings at Löhrstraße 3–7, although it did not initially have exclusive use of them. Several educational institutions shared the facilities, including Herbert Schaller’s Institute for Adult Education, founded in 1949. Until the summer of 1998, the evening grammar school and secondary school also used the premises for their continuing education programs.

Both buildings themselves have a distinguished educational history, having once housed the Public Commercial School. Founded in 1831 to train professionals for commercial occupations, the school moved into the newly constructed, comfortable building at Löhrstraße 3–5 in 1890 (built in 1888/90, by the architect Otto Brückwald). In the 1930s, it expanded by acquiring the neighboring building at Löhrstraße 7. This building (constructed in 1888/89 by the architect Arwed Roßbach) had previously been home to the Association for Public Welfare, founded in 1882, with the goal of fostering “intellectual and emotional enrichment” primarily for the working class.

Education and Research

Equal participation in everyday social life has been and continues to be a core theme of numerous events, including at the “Bürgerrecht.Akademie,” which began its work in 2018. Equal access to continuing education and joint learning for adults with and without disabilities are key areas of focus for the Inclusion Advisory Board of the Leipzig Adult Education Center (vhs), which has been supporting and advising the institution on its path to an inclusive teaching and learning culture since 2018. Digital program formats ensured that, especially during the pandemic years, collaborative learning could continue, numerous new connections could be made, and existing ones maintained. Shared learning became a (digital) bridge to a new sense of togetherness. Further milestones in the development of the Leipzig Adult Education Center seamlessly follow. They all share one crucial and defining aspect: they have grown within a vast network of socially engaged stakeholders. “Seen from a detailed perspective, this means aligning education and educational work with people’s everyday lives, focusing on educational participation for all, and promoting social interaction in our society through educational programs,” states the Leipzig Adult Education Center development concept.

Outreach

In 2019 the center switched from a classical semester-based to flexible course program. It is worthwhile to regularly check the program announcements, and check out the 4.000 courses and events in 10 different departments.

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• Leipzig Adult Education Center
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