The European Training Foundation is a decentralised agency of the European Union based in Turin, Italy. It was established by Council Regulation No. 1360 in 1990 recast No. 1339 in 2008 to contribute to the development of the education and training systems of the EU partner countries. It became operational in 1994 in its premises of Villa Gualino. The ETF currently employs approximately 130 staff and has an annual budget of about 18 million €. Cesare Onestini has been appointed Director of the ETF. He will take up his post on 1 September 2017.

Their mission is to help transition and developing countries to harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems in the context of the Eu's external relations policy.

They base their work on the conviction that human capital development in a lifelong learning perspective can make a fundamental contribution to increasing prosperity, creating sustainable growth and encouraging social inclusion in transition and developing countries.

They recruit and deploy experts from multiple disciplines to handle complex and multidimensional topics in a team environment, in order to create new knowledge, insight and solutions.