An educational institution for two lakes: Chairmen and women hope for many advantages from fusion

A new flag with a new name (from left): Andrea Strolz from the VHS site in Herrsching, Christine Loibl from Starnberg and the two chairmen Christian Schiller and Tim Weidner are pleased that the merger has been successfully implemented. © Dagmar Rutt

The two adult education centres Starnberger See and Herrsching are now one and operate under the name Volkshochschule Starnberg-Ammersee. The still chairmen Tim Weidner and Christian Schiller hoisted the new VHS flag on the building on Starnberg's Bahnhofplatz on Monday and explained details at a press conference.

Starnberg – The new name of the joint adult education centre Starnberg-Ammersee is already written on the flag several metres long at the entrance to the VHS building on Bahnhofplatz in Starnberg, at the entrance gate and above the door of Villa Bayerlein. Only the writing on the mailbox still reminds us of old times. "We still have to replace Lake Starnberg," says Tim Weidner, first chairman of the Lake Starnberg Adult Education Center, which recently officially merged with the neighboring Herrsching Adult Education Center. On 21 April, this became official with the registration of a new statute and the new name in the register of associations. On Monday morning, a press conference was held in the rooms of the yellow-painted historic villa in the city centre to discuss the merger of the two educational institutions.

"The road to the merger was an exciting time with ups and downs," said Weidner. "We have been working intensively on this since last June. Now we've done it." At that time, the proposal for the merger came from Herrsching. "The fact that adult education centres are joining forces to form associations is a nationwide trend," said Christian Schiller, Herrsching's mayor and first chairman of the VHS Herrsching. This is mainly due to the fact that the adult education centres want to continue to receive state funding. "We are dependent on subsidies from the state," Schiller said. In order to get this, however, a certain number of participant double lessons must be achieved. "As a network, we are better positioned in this respect, but it will continue to be a challenge in the future to get enough course participants," said Schiller, who is repeatedly asked whether adult education centres are still up-to-date and necessary at all. His answer is clear: "Education is the foundation of freedom. With us, unlike in other countries, everyone has access to it. No distinctions are made and no one is excluded – the VHS makes a significant contribution to this."

80,000 euros were donated by the Bavarian Adult Education Association for Fusion

According to Christine Loibl, head of the Lake Starnberg Adult Education Centre, the main advantages of the merger, which was subsidised by the Bavarian Adult Education Association with 80,000 euros, are that resources can be pooled and the future viability of the two educational institutions is secured. "A lot of things have already merged, like the website," she said. The new Internet address for course descriptions and course bookings can be found under www.vhs-starnbergammersee.de. According to Loibl, the fear of some citizens that the program could thin out at the respective locations is completely unfounded. "On the contrary, we can offer even more courses and expand the range of education." The service is also to be improved by the merger, and the pool of course instructors is now significantly larger. "This allows us to offer four times as many integration courses."

Volkshochschule Starnberg-Ammersee

The newly merged Volkshochschule Starnberg-Ammersee includes the municipalities of Starnberg, Berg, Pöcking, Feldafing, Tutzing, Herrsching, Andechs and Seefeld. The VHS thus covers around 57,000 inhabitants. The next step is the constituent meeting of the Supervisory Board on 24 May, which consists of one representative from each of the municipalities. There, the new board is elected, which is now no longer voluntary, but full-time. The name of the VHS was inspired by the regional brand. Herrsching's mayor, Christian Schiller, made it clear that other municipalities were welcome.

The current program offers around 800 courses, divided into the areas of society and life, work and IT, languages and integration, health and fitness, culture and creativity as well as basic education and young adult education centers. The venues are distributed among the eight sponsoring municipalities. New courses include "Green Investments: Investing with a clear conscience, avoiding expensive deceptive packaging", "E-cars: Models, costs and charging options", "Relaxed and confident in stressful everyday life" and "Fit with fat".

The spring/summer programme of the Volkshochschule Starnberg-Ammersee is available online and as a turning booklet. "Corona has shown us how important it is to have a stable foundation," said Weidner. "With the merger, this is now assured." lf