Welcome students (and faculty?) from University of Georgia, Athens! (and all others interested in this international exchange) for our November Adult Education Exchange, initiated by Lorilee Sandmann! Ready for the 2008 start:

Welcome to our international visitors! We are glad that you visit the homepage of the chair of andragogy of the University of Bamberg, Germany. We have prepared some information in English. Additional information in English you will find on several pages:   Click here for a 13-pages text on Adult Education in Germany. Description of our understanding of ANDRAGOGY including the book-page from 1833 with the first print of “Andragogik” and a 7-page-article about "Andragogy. History, Meaning, Context, Function". Our links - to German and Amerian university institutes of adult education, to national and international adult education institutions, and to national and international conferences - may be a help for contact. Or try there the “city-tour” through our picturesque city. We operate two additional web-pages (in English): The Service- and Networking-Page ANDRAGOGY.net. The Homepage of International Society for Comparative Adult Education. ... and we would be happy if you leave a message in our guestbook!

Why “Andragogy”?

We changed the name of our chair in 1994 from “Adult Education” to “Andragogik”, using a term that was coined in 1833 by the German educator Alexander Kapp. (Click for the book-page from 1833 with the first print of "Andragogik" and a 7-page-article about "Andragogy. History, Meaning, Context, Function".) There were mainly two reasons to do this:

• We use the term “andragogy” to label the academic discipline that reflects and researches the education an learning of adults. By this we emphasize the difference between the field of practice (“adult education”) and the scholarly approach (“andragogy”).
• In our understanding “andragogy” comprises the “lifewide learning” of adults. This understanding includes not only institutionalized forms of learning, but also selfdirected and even partly-intentional or non-intentional forms of learning.

Fig. 1: Structural scheme of adult education and adult learning

Students at our chair study nine semesters “Paedagogik mit Studienrichtung Andragogik” and finish with an examination “Diplompaedagogik”. This course of studies include pedagogy, psychology, sociology, and an elected subject. A second course of study we offer builds on a finished university degree in another subject and takes three semesters.

 We have about 100 students (plus another 100 that study andragogy as a side subject) , and we are a staff of four to do the teaching in andragogy. Browsing through the pictures of or pages may give you an impression of our way of teaching and learning.

 International students wanting to study in Bamberg must be able to speak German. For more information contact the international office of our university.

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