Start of the VHS winter semester on 10 September

The new winter semester at Chemnitz Adult Education Centre begins on 10 September. Over 670 courses can be found in the recently published programme booklet. For the first time, the catalogue is available in a square format. The new look and clear layout invite you to browse and find out more. The new website also provides an overview of all the programmes for the winter semester. Last-minute bookings can be made at www.vhs-chemnitz.de.

"Looking back on the past summer semester, we are looking forward to the upcoming tasks in the 2018 winter semester," says Grit Bochmann, head of the adult education centre. Visitors can look forward to a series of lectures on ancient arts and crafts, in which pressed sheet metal work, bronze casting and enamelling will be presented. Upcycling in the tailoring workshop, hat making and Christmas activities such as wreath making, Christmas ceramics and Christmas crafts with FIMO are special courses in autumn and winter. The adult education centre kitchen opens its doors for the Christmas season. Small chocolate delicacies can be made in the "Truffle Manufactory" course.

As a place of encounter and communication, the adult education centre also emphasises an extensive range of foreign languages in the winter semester. In addition to the regular language get-together, the Business English courses are back on offer. In three to five sessions, these courses offer the opportunity to practise telephone and e-mail communication skills. Grammar and conversation courses round off the refresher programme.

"We can look back on a very successful summer semester," summarises Grit Bochmann. In total, more than 600 events with over 18,100 teaching units were successfully held last summer semester. This means that the adult education centre recorded an increase of twelve per cent more courses than in the 2017 summer semester. The positive balance is also reflected in a decrease in the number of cancelled courses: these fell by four and a half per cent compared to the summer semester of the previous year. In the areas of political and civic education as well as digitalisation and continuing professional development in particular, the number of cancelled courses fell noticeably.

The increase in the number of courses was also accompanied by an increase in the number of participants in the fields of art and culture and work and digitalisation. Summer painting courses and evening readings as well as courses on smartphones/tablets and photography were very well received by Chemnitz residents. An outstanding highlight from the 2018 summer semester were the two live hacking events "Die Hacker kommen!" with a total of 176 visitors. "There has also been a noticeable increase in male visitors, particularly in these subject areas," explains Grit Bochmann. Around a third of course participants at the adult education centre are men.

As in the 2016 and 2017 semesters, around 60 per cent of participants in the 2018 summer semester were aged between 35 and 65. The youngest participants were aged between 5 and 18. They mainly attended language courses and the TalentCampus, a holiday course for children and young people that is always fully booked. The Adult Education Centre's programme also met with a positive response outside the city limits of Chemnitz. Around 15 per cent of registrations in spring and summer 2018 came from the surrounding area. In the 2017 summer semester, the figure was around 12 per cent.

The review of the 2018 summer semester is followed by an outlook for the future: "We are currently preparing for the centenary of Chemnitz Adult Education Centre at the beginning of 2019," announces Grit Bochmann. The adult education centre has been in existence since February 1919, making it one of the oldest adult education centres in Saxony. It is a permanent fixture when it comes to further education in Chemnitz. The institution can look back on an eventful 100 years - political upheavals, several relocations within the city and civil society challenges. Grit Bochmann summarises: "People and their further development are at the centre of our work today as they were then. The adult education centre stands for real-life education, the diversity of its programmes and the creation of encounters." The adult education centre is celebrating the anniversary with special events in the 2019 summer and winter semesters, which will be announced separately.