The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has developed a new free massive open online course (MOOC) beginning in January 2018 on EU funds and how they work in practice.

The CoR is the European Institution representing the voices of region and citizens in the EU. The course will help participants make the most of EU resources for their region or city. It will provide relevant information on how the EU institutions function and work together, how the EU budget is prepared and how this impacts policies and activities at the regional and local level. Present and upcoming EU programmes and policies will be presented, as well as statistics, practical tools, examples and success stories of concrete EU-funded projects across the continent.

During the first six weeks of the course (15 January-23 February 2018), participants will focus on one specific theme per week and will evaluate their learning progress via assignments and a weekly quiz. Study time will be about 1.5 hours per week. The course material will remain online for one year, so that after the first six weeks learners can work through the course material in their own pace.

The course will include videos, factsheets, infographics and web-streamed live debates with Q&A from the course participants. Moreover, participants will be able to interact via their learning journals in the course platform.

The course is free of charge, open to anyone interested in EU and regional and local affairs, and accessible on all devices. Basic knowledge of the European Union is recommended as a background to the course.

This course is also available in German and French.

You can learn more about the course, and sign up to join, on the website.