In the German-speaking Community of Belgium, the following categories of institutions provide publicly funded adult education and training:

The Employment Office

The Arbeitsamt (“Employment Office”) primarily addresses jobseekers, but its audience also includes employees, pupils and students. It offers comprehensive support in job searching as well as career orientation and guidance. The services offered also include training and further education programmes.

In concrete terms, the Employment Office provides training in basic skills (such as digital skills and language skills) as well as vocational training programmes (basic training for bricklayers, construction assistants, cleaning staff, family and senior care assistants, care assistants, childcare minders, kindergarten assistants, and the possibility to obtain the secondary school leaving certificate through the second educational pathway). Most of these offers are organised in the north and south of the German-speaking Community. Through cooperation agreements, the employment office can also refer jobseekers to training programmes offered by the regional employment services: VDAB (in Flanders), FOREM (in Wallonia) and ACTIRIS (in the Brussels-Capital Region).

The Employment Office of the German-speaking Community was established by decree in 2000 as a public-interest institution. Since 1 January 2024, the Employment Office has been a service with separate management within the Ministry of the German-speaking Community.

The Zentrum für Aus- und Weiterbildung im Mittelstand (ZAWM)

As the name suggests, the ZAWM provides training and further education for small and medium-sized enterprises in the German-speaking Community. The ZAWM operates at two locations: in Eupen (in the north of the German-speaking Community) and in St. Vith (in the south). The ZAWM is supervised and financed by a parastatal institution, the IAWM.

In addition to the traditional dual apprenticeship training in around 40 professions, the ZAWM also offers Master craftsperson courses and several dual Bachelor’s degree programmes (Accounting and Public and Business Administration). The latter are organised in cooperation with the Autonome Hochschule (currently the only higher education institution in the German-speaking Community).

Since the 2025–2026 academic year, the age limit of 29 years for concluding an apprenticeship contract has been abolished. Since then, adults over the age of 29 can also conclude an apprenticeship contract.

The ZAWM also offers a wide range of professional continuing education courses in the fields of occupational safety, crafts and equipment training, energy technology and environment, service professions, data protection, IT and computing, automotive technology, human resources development, marketing and public relations, transport and languages.

Zentren für Aus- und Weiterbildung in der Landwirtschaft

The Landwirtschaftliche Schulungszentrum Ostbelgien (LSZ), based in St. Vith, is the central contact point for further training for anyone who works in agriculture or would like to do so. The offer ranges from farm management training to the raining of trainee supervisors, to the G tractor licence and the farm educator certificate, as well as courses, study evenings, guided tours and study trips on current agricultural topics.

The Landwirtschaftliches Schulungszentrum (Agricultural Training Centre) is a non-profit association (VoG) and was established by the organisations Bauernbund & Ländliche Gilden (Farmers’ Union & Rural Guilds), Grüner Kreis (Green Circle) and Agra-Frauen (Agra Women). Its mission is to coordinate all offers of the other centres and organisations and to compile and publish them through a common website.

The adult education institutions

The Einrichtungen der Erwachsenenbildung are non-profit associations that are subsidised by the German-speaking Community. In order to receive funding, these non-profit associations must meet the conditions set out in the Dekret zur Förderung der Einrichtungen der Erwachsenenbildung. 

Currently, there are 12 recognised adult education institutions in East Belgium. The programmes are spread across the entire territory of the German-speaking Community. They offer further education in a wide range of fields: languages, nature and environment, society, politics, as well as health and social topics. The aim is to provide key competences and promote lifelong learning through non-formal education opportunities.

School-based continuing education

In the German-speaking Community, there are five „Institute für schulische Weiterbildung“ (=Institutes for School-based Continuing Education) organised or subsidised by it.

Like all schools, the „Institute für schulische Weiterbildung“ are organised by school authorities from the different networks: by the German-speaking Community (community education system), by the Municipality of Eupen (official subsidized educationand by a private-law Catholic school authority (free subsidized education system). 

In general, the Institutes for School-based Continuing Education are located within existing secondary schools. The five institutes operate in three municipalities: in the north of the German-speaking Community (2 in Eupen and 1 in Kelmis) and in the south (2 in St. Vith).

The school-based continuing education offer includes language courses, IT courses, the Abitur auf dem 2. Bildungsweg, as well as specialised courses in cooking and sewing. The courses usually take place in the evenings and alongside regular schooling, i.e. between September and June, taking school holidays into account.

The Erasmus+ Agency

As the National Agency, the Jugendbüro der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft (=Youth Office of the German-speaking Community) manages the international funding programmes Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC). The international offer – consisting of further training courses, conferences, study visits, contact seminars and workshops – provides professionals in the fields of education, youth and sport with the opportunity to network across Europe, learn from one another and jointly develop innovative project ideas. 

The Autonome Hochschule 

In addition to its regular study programmes (Bachelor in Educational Sciences and Bachelor in Health and Nursing Sciences, as well as dual study programmes in cooperation with the ZAWM), the Autonome Hochschule organises Weiterbildungen further training for teaching and educational staff of primary and secondary schools, teaching staff of the Institutes for Continuing Education as well as of SME training and further education, teaching staff of Part-Time Education, employees working in the education sector and in SME training, and staff of Kaleido (the centre for the healthy development of children and young people).

Other providers

In addition, there are a number of other subsidised institutions that contribute to lifelong learning in East Belgium: these include, for example, the Medienzentrum (digital competences), das Naturzentrum Ternell (sustainability competences), creative ateliers, the Jugendbüro, the Krankenpflegevereinigung,… . 

A detailed overview is available on the continuing education page of the German-speaking Community: Ostbelgien Bildung - Anbieter und Bereiche in Ostbelgien.