SummaryIn view of the transformation process in the area of Greater Munich and Upper Bavaria and especially in light of the great challenge which the dramatically rising number of refugees and asylum seekers in Germany poses, there is an urgent need for further training for the VHS. Our clientele is becoming more international and correspondingly our personnel and the institution in general will have to become more international and capable of operating more inter-culturally. Internationalisation will be a key focus regarding organisational and staff development in the VHS in the next few years. The main requirements are becoming manifest.1. It’s our target to ensure that every adult has the opportunity to enjoy life-long learning being able to attend high-quality and reasonably-priced courses. For this we have to improve the way we attract, cater for and advise a much more international clientele than before. This can only be achieved by improving active and passive language competence at all levels (management, pedagogical planers, administrative staff and also the teaching staff) of the institution. 2. Through our educational programme and its implementation we seek to promote equal opportunities. To this aim we have to make the organization of teaching and learning more easily accessible. We have to be able to reach refugees in particular and people with a migration background who initially do not speak German via the bridge language English and to a lesser extent French, in order even to be able to communicate and give meaningful guidance. Particularly administrative and pedagogical staff, the management and the DaF teaching staff at the VHS have requirements in this area.3. We seek to improve the efficiency and quality of our education and training programme. This means getting to know new teaching methods and tools, improving linguistic skills, looking in depth at the new standards of competence certification which have relevance all over Europe. We have to experiment with educational programmes which go beyond pure language training, which are taught in English or French or where English or French is used to assist as the bridge language.Number and profile of the participants and description of activities:Customized training courses will be offered in the UK and to a lesser extent in France for the various target groups mentioned above. A total of 154 mobilities will be conducted and evaluated. The main focus will be both to improve active and passive language skills and to improve the quality of teaching in the above-mentioned languages for the sub target group of language teachers involved. Moreover participants will gain an insight into the organisation and standards of the partners in the target countries thus boosting the capacity for innovation at the VHS.Procedures for implementing the project:The training project “The Challenge of Internationalisation at Volkshochschulen” for the consortium from Upper Bavaria will be advertised at the participating institutions. Suitable participants will be invited to apply or can apply themselves. This includes all full and part-time employees as well as VHS teachers of English, French and German as a Foreign Language (DaF)After selection participants are committed to taking part and have intensive preparation. The key topics will be discussed with the partners and the procedure of running the training courses clarified. If necessary training courses will be scheduled. VHS staff will register the participants and book their travel. The training measures will be evaluated by the participants, by the institution responsible and by the management of the partner of the consortium. The results will be communicated within the consortium, but also to the Bavarian Volkshochschulen, the “Landesverband der Volkshochschulen” in Bavaria and on federal level. The responsible project manager will be the applicant for this project.Description of the envisaged results and impact and the expected long-term benefits:The staff at the Volkshochschulen taking part should become significantly more willing and able to communicate in the bridge language of English or French. Thus we will become more sensitive towards learners at the VHS who have a migration background at the first-contact stage, being able to give them better guidance and to invite them to take part in training courses and in the process of life-long learning. The project is an important milestone on the way to internationalising the important educational institution, the Volkshochschule.