FIED is an association under the 1901 law, created in 1987 at the initiative of the Ministry of Research and Higher Education to represent French university education internationally. Its headquarters are at the Maison des Universités, where the Conference of University Presidents (CPU) is located. FIED brings together around thirty French or foreign universities or higher education establishments involved in open, online and distance training. It represents 55,000 students and offers more than 500 university diploma courses, to which are added more than 300 independent modules.
Its main missions are:
- Promote teaching, distance learning, ODL research and new learning.
- Promote exchanges and meetings on the subject of distance education and training by regularly organizing seminars on subjects that are of direct interest to its members and help them improve or develop their training offer or
- Jointly develop training courses and modules, such as the EAD passport, and services for its members, particularly for testing online exams.
- Pool monitoring and expertise on distance education and training systems through its Intranet and the facilitation of working groups.
- Represent France in international networks on distance education: EDEN (European Distance and E-learning Network), ICDE (International Council for Open, and Distance Education) and EADTU (European Association Distance Teaching Universities)