FTA Policies

About the FTA

The Free Technology Academy is a joint project that is carried out by a Consortium of universities coordinated by the Free Knowledge Institute. Additional partners participate as Associate Partners to form a broader support network around the Academy.

Certificates

Learners who complete a course successfully are entitled to an FTA Certificate, which is endorsed by the supporting academic partners. The endorsing partners recognise the FTA certificates and facilitate learners to continue their studies at any of these partners to obtain a full degree. In each of the course modules is described which partners endorse a certain course and what specific (entrance) requirements and conditions apply for recognition at their university.

Degrees

As the FTA is no legal entity as such, but a joint effort between different partners, it cannot issue an official degree. Instead, the FTA enables learners to obtain such degrees at the partner universities. The FTA is continuously working to expand its programme, while also encouraging the partner universities to incorporate and recognise FTA modules in their Bachelor and Masters Programmes.

With the Free Technology Academy we offer certificates to those learners who have passed a course successfully. The Quality Assurance team of the FTA has made sure that these certificates are recognised by the different universities that participate in the FTA. This means that you can follow one or more courses at the FTA and then continue at one of the partner universities to obtain a full accredited Masters degree. The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya already offers a complete Masters degree (Master in Free Software) and the Open University of the Netherlands is working on that. In any case, both universities accept the certificates issued by the FTA so that a learner can obtain the necessary waivers. We hope to provide the full Masters Programme through the FTA directly in the near future.

More information about corresponding (Master-)degrees you can find in the course description of any of the specific courses you might be interested in.

Registration

The FTA understands that all the (personal) data you provide during and after the registration process are correct. If you would provide incorrect details, the FTA cannot guarantee the posterior recognition of the credits obtained at the FTA. If such would occur, please contact the registration desk.

Tuition fees

The FTA courses do have a certain cost, as we need to have specialised tutors available to guide you through the programme, maintain the Campus and other infrastructures and are continuously working on the improvement and expansion of the programme. In case you can or do not want to pay tuition fees, you can access the course materials through the FTA website and use them for self-study.

In certain cases discounts on the tuition fees apply. This will be clearly announced in the Course Programme and at the registration page. You might also be able to get a scholarship from other organisations. If you know of such scholarships, please let us know, so we can share that information with the other interested learners.

The learner is expected to pay the tuition fees as presented during the registration process within a period of 14 days, and at least one week before the start of the course(s). The registration becomes valid only upon receipt of the complete and timely payment. In case you have paid but for any reason are not accepted in the course (for example due to late payment, cancellation of the course or overbooking), you are entitled to a refund, taking the cancellation and refund policy into account.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

As soon as you register for courses, you commit to any stipulated fees. Please read carefully the information about cancellation charges and tuition refunds.

Cancellation up to one week before the start date of the course:

• Administrative charges 10 euros.
• Refunds of the remaining tuition fee will be made on the basis of 'Beneficiary Costs' which means that the beneficiary pays for the bank charges.

Cancellation later than one week before the start date of the course:

• Tuition fees are non-refundable after one week before the start date of the course.

If a module is cancelled by the FTA, tuition fees will be fully refunded.

When discounts apply, payments need to be received within two weeks of the date specified in the discount conditions. If a payment is received later, the discount conditions are not anymore valid and the full fee applies.

Learners wishing to appeal this cancellation policy must do so in writing at the time of their cancellation. A cancellation letter along with supporting documentation will be required for the appeal to be considered. The documentation should demonstrate why you missed the dated deadlines listed above. The learner will be notified once the decision has been made.

Changes in the programme

The FTA Consortium reserves the right to cancel or adapt parts of the course programme without prior notice. With respect to discounts or scholarships offered by the FTA, these are available only in limited amount for the initial courses. In case the FTA Consortium would decide to cancel a course, learners who already registered for the course are entitled to a refund.

Changes to these conditions

These conditions can be revoked or changed in any moment if that is considered necessary to the FTA Consortium. In any case, we are committed to communicate major changes as soon as they occur and try to avoid possible damages.