EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP)

1. Let us first renew our best wishes for a prosperous New Year to all of you, thanking also the numerous greetings received at the Secretariat and the good feedbacks on EDEN’s 15th year anniversary Certificate sent to all Members!

2. New EU programme calls and info days

The decision establishing a new Lifelong Learning Programme was signed by the Presidents of the European Parliament and of the Council on 15 November. The programme runs for the period 2007-2013 as the successor to the current Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and eLearning programmes.The Commission has published on 20 December the 2007 general Call for Proposals for applications for grants under the programme.

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), responsible for the management of certain parts of the EU's programmes in the fields of education, culture and audiovisual is organising Info Days dedicated to the parts of the new Life Long Learning Programme.
The participants in the Info Days will have the chance to know more about the policy orientations that determine the Programme, about the Programme's contents, and about administrative and financial aspects.
Various sessions and workshops, and key speakers will highlight the news and changes since the previous programmes.

There are 3 possible dates: 29 January, 12 and 19 February 2007. To register, please visit EACEA's website.

3. EDEN is delighted to welcome the following new institutional members in the Association:

International Training Centre of the ILO, Italy
Universtiy of Ulster, United Kingdom
Umea University, Sweden
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Economics Subotica, Serbia
SINFIC Sistemas de Informacao Industriais e Consultoria, SA, Portugal
Escuela de Administracion de Empresas, Spain

You can check them at the "Welcoming New Members" link on the EDEN web.

The number of EDEN institutional members showed dynamic increase in 2006, exceeding 150 in June and now reaching 167.

4. The membership renewal letters and invoices for the year 2007 are being mailed now to institutions and individual members. You are kindly requested to support in your institution the payment procedure which is sometimes slowed down in the administrative channels.

5. We are pleased to announce that the venue of the EDEN 2007 Annual Conference, to take place 13-16 June in Naples will be "Citta della Scienza", a newly built conference and science centre, situated in a splendid natural scenario, in the West of the town on the charming coast between Posillipo hill and the Gulf of Pozzuoli.

Please, be kindly reminded that the paper submission deadline for the Naples conference is approaching. If you wish to submit a paper or workshop proposal, it should be sent by 2 February.

Please, visit the conference site for details.

6. Mobile Learning Blog and Academic Administration kit

The thesis of the project "Incorporating Mobile Learning into Mainstream Education" is that it is now time for mobile learning to emerge from its project status and enter into mainstream education and training in Europe. The project sets out to provide guides, systems and modules for mobile learning and to trial them with real students.

All universities have frequent needs for communication with their students. The Mobile Learning Academic Administration kit is designed to help your institution and your staff to introduce SMS messaging for administrative purposes. A free copy can be downloaded.

The project partners have established a blog to keep you up-to-date with the latest developments evolving not only in the project itself but also in the field of mobile learning

7. The EDEN Secretariat is functioning at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The “hosting environment” has recently been restructured. The Centre for Distance and Adult Learning, that is hosting the Secretariat, has been transformed to a Centre for Learning Innovation and Adult Learning, with new challenges and tasks and is operating from 1 of January in frames of the Institute for Applied Pedagogy and Psychology.

8. Following its well attended and successful closing conference in November, the eTTCampus project, aiming to develop and consolidate a European Virtual Campus for teachers and trainers with collaborative project work as main learning strategy, has recently finished. We hope its visitors have enjoyed the e-Campus as much as we enjoyed creating it! The eTTCampus consortium would like to continue to provide a collaborative platform that lives on without external funding, and provide teachers and trainers with a resource that encourages the exchange of knowledge and experiences between peers.

EDEN Members are kindly encouraged to send relevant brief news for the next issue of EDEN Newsflash.