Spanish Federation of Popular Universities.

The Spanish Federation of Popular Universities (FEUP) consists of 207 Popular Universities and it represents the Spanish Popular Universities (UU.PP) at a national and international level and defends their common interests.

• FEUP is a meeting point for sharing experiences, systematization, reflection, theoretical production, and collective communication among the UU.PP (institutional representatives, technicians, and students).
• FEUP was founded in 1982 and it is a non-profit association based in Madrid (Spain).
• FEUP’s funding comes from membership fees and projects carried out with Spanish public institutions: Ministry of Education and Vocational Education, Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, Social Services and Equality, Women’s Institute, etc.
• FEUP provides activities for the entire population, with special attention for people or groups with greater educational and cultural barriers. It is aimed at collectives in situations of social disadvantage such as women, youth, seniors, immigrants, etc.

Other goals:

• Implementation of political, educational, and cultural strategies.
• Promoting lifelong learning.
• Promoting values of equality, justice, and solidarity.
• Promoting gender equality.
• Promoting sustainable development.
• Reducing the digital divide.
• Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS).
• Promoting respect for democracy, human rights, and development cooperation FEUP is a member of the European Association for Education of Adults (EAEA) and the International Council.

Popular Universities in Spain (UU.PP.) started its journey in 1901 (Oviedo- Avilés), linked to relevant intellectual, political and cultural figures of the time, as Blasco Ibáñez (Valencia 1903) and Antonio Machado (Segovia 1919), among others. They were inspired by pedagogical renewal movements like the Free Institution of Teaching and the Educational Missions. Today, the Popular Universities work at the municipal level and are mostly entities liked to the local administration or to associations. The UU.PP are a project for cultural development, which acts locally, and aims to promote social participation, education, training, and culture, in order to improve the quality of life of the people and contribute to society. In the words of Vicente Blasco Ibañez (1867-1928): “Popular Universities are a place where everyone can come, where teaching is presented as a celebration, and science is served as an amusement”. The 207 UU.PP associated to FEUP are located in 13 Spanish Autonomous Communities: Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Canary Islands, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla León, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, La Rioja, Madrid and Valencia and 30 provinces. The Popular Universities in Spain are active in a broad context:

1. Education.
2. Training in specific subjects.
3. Training for employment.
4. Cultural activities.
5. Cross-cutting issues, basic skills, gender equality, sustainable development, etc.

At a national / European / international level, FEUP has worked with organizations such as UNESCO , EAEA , NIACE (UK), IIZ -DVV (Germany), FAEA (Finland), UU.PP. (Hungary), etc. on topics such as:

• Active citizenship.
• Equal opportunities for women and men.
• Employability.
• Basic skills.
• Social integration.
• Promoting lifelong learning: Learning festivals.
• Intercultural Learning Main activities carried out by FEUP: Annual assembly and conferences.
• Governing bodies meetings.
• Reissue of conceptual bases and General Programming framework.
• Technical conferences and teacher training policies.
• Exchange of experiences and good practices developed for its systematization.
• Working groups with specialists in different areas of interest e.g.: Feminist Education, Youth, Employability, Social Integration, etc.
• Information, advice, educational materials, and dissemination regarding cultural aspects of Adult Education Establishing cooperation for joint action with the public administration and other associations and organizations to improve social structures (eg. The Network against Unwanted Loneliness (Red contra la Soledad No Deseada, which comprises over 40 Spanish associations).
• Development of projects, materials, and applications for public funding calls.
• Promoting lifelong learning, e.g.: Learning Festivals, etc.
• Establishing and strengthening the cooperation with Spanish administrations and institutions in order to open ways of collaboration and sources of funding.
• Support for international work, such as EAEA, ICAE, REPEM, etc.
• Promotion of the establishment of new Popular Universities.
• Promotion of our project using the web and social networks Moreover, FEUP has taken part in several ERASMUS + KA2014 Projects in the field of adult education, such as: ERASMUS+ 2020 KA2 Adult Education: Project Salud+60 (2020-1-ES01-KA204-082505) ERASMUS+ 2018 KA2 Adult Education: Project ELMO (2018-1-DE02- KA204-005049) ERASMUS+ 2015 KA2 Adult Education: Employment and Women on the 21st century in Europe: From Household economy to SMEs (Small and Medium enterprises) economy – MUPYME Project (2015-1-ES01-KA204-015937) ERASMUS+ 2015 KA2 Adult Education: Economy Co-Responsability Learning (ECORL) (Project 2015-1-IT02-KA204-015467) Before the development of the Erasmus+ Programme, FEUP participated in many international projects and employment-oriented initiatives, the Socrates and Grundtvig programmes, etc.