If you ever asked yourself, which institution does finance our project on future-oriented processes to foster professional and personal development in Europe, you will be interested in reading this article.

Let’s start by saying that FUTURES is a project financed in the framework of ERASMUS+, which is the European Union’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. Its huge budget provided opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain experience, and volunteer abroad.

In the rich menu of the opportunities offered by Erasmus+, there are also the so-called “Strategic Partnership” initiatives. In particular we applied for the Higher Education field and this was the scheme that allowed us to have our project idea financed! This sub-programme aims to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level. Strategic Partnerships must be presented to the National Agency of the country of the Coordinator, in our case the Foundation for the Development of the Education System.

Strategic Partnerships provide opportunities for a wide variety of public, private, and non-governmental organisations to implement a broad range of activities including:

• Strengthening cooperation and networking between organisations
• Promoting the development, testing, and implementation of innovative practices
• Modernizing education and training systems
• Promoting the recognition and validation of knowledge, skills, and competences
• Supporting education and training professionals to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in learning

FUTURES is a Strategic Partnership for innovation, aimed at the development of innovative results and the implementation of pre-existing innovative products or ideas. The partnership is willing to stimulate the growth of professional skills and modern educational practices future-oriented.

According to the program, Strategic Partnerships need to respond to at least one of the specific European priorities of the sector or one of the horizontal political priorities, identified by the European Commission, common to several sectors. The relevance of the proposed applications concerning the priorities is evaluated and has a decisive weight in the attribution of the final score. In our case, the most relevant horizontal priority satisfied by FUTURES project is the support to individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competencies to develop the necessary tools in a complex and evolving world that requires new efforts and approaches.

So, if you have any ideas related to these domains, don’t be shy: Strategic Partnership could be the scheme for making your dreams real!