Kleine Chronologie des Deutschen Volkshochschul-Verbandes

1949 Establishment of a "working group of State associations of German Adult Education Centres" (Bavaria, Berlin, North Baden, North Württemberg, South Württemberg/Hohenzollern, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein) with the election of a Chairperson

1950 First Conference of the "working group of State Associations of German Adult Education Centres" in Frankfurt am Main with representatives from the Ministries of Education/Culture and the three Western Allied High Commissioners - Second Conference of the "working group" in Frankfurt am Main with the new election of a Chairperson

1951 Third Conference of the "working group of State Associations of German Adult Education Centres" in Mainz

1952 Fourth Conference of the "working group of State Associations of German Adult Education Centres" in Frankfurt am Main with the adoption of rules of procedure and election of a Chairperson, election of a President and a Managing Director - International meeting on Adult Education in Salzburg with strong participation of the working group

1953 21 May to 06 June: Keynote week in the Adult Education Centre Inzigkofen – “Meaning and role of the Adult Education Centre”

1953 17 June: transformation of the "working group of State Associations of German Adult Education Centres" – foundation of the German Adult Education Association in Berlin. Founding members: Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Baden, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, South Baden, Württemberg. September: working convention of the DVV in Jugenheim: "Education in possible German defence forces"

1953 01 October: accession of North Rhine-Westphalia

1954 24 February 1954: accession of Bremen

1954 September: First working session at the DVV in Frankfurt am Main of the working group on Adult Education Centres in large metropolitan areas

1956 accession of Saarland. Founding of the "Federal working group Work and Life" in Frankfurt am Main. Impulse toward establishing a position for an Education Coordinator at the Second German Adult Education Conference in Frankfurt am Main

1957 Establishment of the position "DVV Education Coordinator", located in Frankfurt am Main (since 1997: German Institute for Adult Education)

1961 Foundation of the Adolf Grimme Prize - television programme prize of the DVV

1969 Establishment of the "Department for Adult Education in Developing Countries" as a department in the federal office of the DVV, located in Bonn (since 1993: Institute for International Cooperation of the DVV)

1972 Decision of the Executive Board to establish an Adolf Grimme Institute for further development and deepening of cooperation between Adult Education Centres and television stations

1973 Founding of the Adolf Grimme Institute of the DVV, located in Marl (since 2010: Grimme Institut – Institute for Media, Education and Culture Ltd.)

1981 Formation of the International Working Group for processing historical sources of Adult Education in Germany – Austria – Switzerland

1991 Amendment of the DVV constitution and accession of the state associations of the Adult Education Centres of the new federal states to the DVV: Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia

1996 Decision on structural reform of the DVV and its Institute at the 44th General Assembly of the DVV in Wuppertal

1997 Extraordinary General Meeting of the DVV in Kassel for legal independence of the DIE, for the conversion of the Adolf Grimme Institute of DVV into a limited liability company and to amend the constitution of the DVV association. Founding of the German Institute for Adult Education, establishment of the Adolf Grimme Institute, Association for Media, Education and Culture Ltd.,  establishment of the WBT Weiterbildungs-Testsysteme GmbH (Continuing Education Test Systems Ltd., now telc GmbH) as the legal successor of the examination centre of the DVV

2003, extensive amendments to the constitution of the DVV, structural reform

2006 Renaming of WBT in telc

2011 Publication of a position paper: The Adult Education Centre - Education as Public Responsibility