This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.

The European Commission has defined three overall objectives for education and training, namely:

• improve the quality and effectiveness of education and training systems;
• facilitate access to education and training systems; and
• open up EU education and training systems to the wider world.

In order to reach these goals, the EU Member States have established the Lifelong Learning Programme with several subprogrammes. The FTA receives support under the Erasmus Programme for Higher Education.

In February 2008 the Free Knowledge Institute submitted the proposal for the Free Technology Academy. In August that year the project was selected and approved by the European Parliament under reference number 142706-LLP-1-2008-1-NL-ERASMUS-EVC. For the set up of the FTA an initial budget of 439.000 Euro is budgeted, of which the European Commission will contribute up to 300.000 Euro. The rest is financed by the participating universities.

A list of selected projects within the Erasmus Programme for multilateral projects can be found at the Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency (PDF).