The Board of the European Foundation for Quality in eLearning has decided to create the position of the Secretary General to further develop and strengthen the Foundation's Secretariat due to the organization's increasing membership and project involvement.

For the position of the Secretary General, the Board of Directors elected Ari-Matti Auvinen, member of the Board. He is a Senior Partner in HCI Productions Ltd., a Finnish company specialized in learning and performance solutions. Ari-Matti Auvinen holds an M.A. degree from the University of Helsinki and an MBA from the Helsinki University of Technology. He has worked in distance education and eLearning since the late 1980s in various national and international positions.

Ari-Matti Auvinen has worked as a jury member for the Finnish eLearning Quality Award "eEemeli" for years and began his post with the EFQUEL "eQuality" Award in 2007. Since 2004, Ari-Matti Auvinen has led the activities of the Finnish eLearning Quality Mark for the Finnish eLearning Center. He is also the Project Contractor for the QMPP project (Quality Management of Peer Production of eLearning).

EFQUEL is pleased to announce three new EU-funded projects. All approved projects include a solid European partnership - with many already-existing EFQUEL members, as well as many future members. These projects are:

The HEXTLEARN (Higher Education exploring ICT use for lifelong learning) network aims to increase the level of attention of the Higher Education Community toward ICT strategic integration by generating awareness, commitment, and networking on quality-assurance issues and the strategic integration of ICT in teaching, learning, and innovation in Higher Education.

The QMPP (Quality Management of Peer Production of eLearning) project will accelerate the creation of peer-produced eLearning content by providing a methodology and a process to manage its quality. This overall aim also supports the empowerment of e-learners in vocational education and training in their development from passive receivers of eLearning content toward becoming active producers of content in their specific knowledge areas. Another objective of the project is to accelerate the creation of peer-produced eLearning content by providing a methodology for quality management.

The QUAL-C (Quality Assurance Networks for Adult Learning Centres) will introduce a quality-oriented approach in the informal and non-formal learning supply provided by Adult Learning Centers. In the short term, at least sixty Adult Learning Center staff members are expected to be trained, and adult learning stakeholders from various EU countries are expected to join the Quality Assurance networks for Adult Learning Centers.