AEWB

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AEWB - The Agency of Adult and Continuing Education

AEWB - Short History

The Agency of Adult and Continuing Education (AEWB) was established in 2004/2005 by the Government of Lower Saxony and the Lower Saxonian Adult Education Association (nbeb) in order to support the work of adult education providers in this province. It is the only institution of its type in Germany. 

The objectives of AEWB aree defined in the Lower Saxonian Adult Education Act (NEBG), issued on November 23rd, 2004. According to the Act, AEWB

  • is the central service organisation for all adult education providers in Lower Saxony elligible to provincial public co-funding
  • is the central body to provide staff training for adult education providers
  • is responsible for quality management and consulting
  • is responsible for networking, development and innovation in the area of adult education 

AEWB started working in January 2006. Its venues are situated in Bödekerstraße 16-18 and Bödekerstraße 11 in Hannover. 

Since 2006, due to the ongoing development in the area of education, both in the province, the country, and Europe-wide, the Agency has developed competencies in many additional fields of work, e.g. in the area of early childhood education, civic education, open university programme, etc. 

Certificate of Quality Management

The Agency complies to the standards of the LQW quality management system. The certificate was issued to AEWB first in February 2012, with ArtSet Institut (Hannover) as the certifying body, and AEWB regularly undergoes the required procedures and checks for re-certification. 

Member of...

AEWB is an associate member of EAEA, the European Association for the Education of Adults.

AEWB is a member of the „Nationales Forum Beratung in Bildung, Beruf und Beschäftigung“ (www.forum-beratung.de) which supports policy makers both on the federal and the provincial level, as well as in other public bodies, in their efforts to improve conditions for adequate education councelling as part of the more general tasks of education policy, employment policy and social policy. 

Moreover, AEWB is a member of the German Association for Distance Leraning (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung und Fernstudium e.V., DGWF), which focusses on the Academic part of Lifelong Learning, in-job higher education, and "Open Higher Education" approaches  (www.dgwf.net).

More details

The agency’s working programme focuses on providing services predominantly for • adult education providers in Lower Saxony • their staff (both full-time and part-time) and their professional associations, • their partner organisations from the public and private sector, as well as civil society organisations.

Working for these three types of "end users"

  • We are the first place to go for questions concerning the Adult Education Act of Lower Saxony
  • We manage the provision of public funding from the provincial state budget for adult education, and we monitor the implementation of the funded projects
  • We give you advice if you want to take an education leave, and we decide about your application
  • If you need a certificate to support your application for a VAT exemption, ask us
  • We offer continuing education programmes for those working in the adult education system
  • We evaluate continuing education programmes; for developing our programme, we cooperate with a variety of provincial institutions and associations, with research institutions and practitioners
  • We help your organisation to develop its own quality development programme
  • We provide information, working materials and teaching aids for a variety of topics
  • We supervise projects and support the sectors of the education system (school education, higher education and adult education) to better co-operate
  • We represent the adult education system of Lower Saxony on the national and international level, in working groups and associations