Paulo Maria Bastos da Silva Dias, born on June 27, 1954, had been appointed as Rector of Universida Aberta in Lisbon, Portugal.

As a PhD in Education he is full professor of the University of Minho since 1990. Aggregate evidence in the disciplinary group of curriculum development and educational technology was taken at the same University in 1999. Professor Paulo Dias develops scientific activity in the Research Centre of Education, having as main areas of concern: educational innovation based on information and communication technologies, distance education and e-learning, networked education and training, and online learning communities, within wich he coordinates and participates in national and European projects.He also coordinates the Competence Centre of the University of Minho, a center created within the framework of Program Nonius XXI in 1997, and within it is organised the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Education "Challenges", whose first edition took place in 1999.He integrates editorial boards of international journals of specialty and is a member of scientific commissions on national and international conferences. He is author or co-author of over a hundred scientific papers published in Portugal and abroad, namely in Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, United States of America, Holland, England and Mexico.
He was President of the Institute of Education and Psychology of the University of Minho from November 2006 to February 2010, having been Vice President of the same Institute in the six previous years. On December 16, 2011, he took over as Rector of Universidade Aberta, following the elections won on November 3 of the same year

From 1 November 2011, EADTU is under the Acting Presidency of the United Kingdom, by Will Swann, Director of Students at the Open University.  Will Swann is head of the University’s Student Services Unit. He is responsible for the development, delivery and evaluation of services to students and associate lecturers in support of teaching and widening participation objectives, as well as for the recruitment and retention of students. Will Swann was appointed as Director, Students in 2004. He joined the OU in 1977 as a Lecturer in Education. In the 1980s his research, publications and teaching were in the area of inclusive education, and he chaired the University’s first course in this field. In 1991 Will left the OU for three years to work as a primary teacher. Returning in 1994, he led the development of the OU’s program for primary teaching assistants and researched their role and training. In 1998 he was appointed as the Dean of the School of Education, and later oversaw the creation of the Faculty of Education and Language Studies, of which he was the founding Dean.

EADTU visited Lund University on the 29th of November. The goal of the meeting was to learn the latest on distance education in Swedish higher education and more specifically the ambitions of Lund university and its role in this. Also Högskolan Dalarna from Falun with dedicated programmes in distance education was represented. The topics of virtual mobility, networked education, open educational resources and QA in e-learning were presented by EADTU and placed in the national context by lively discussions.

Each year, EADTU visits a selection of its members for local mainstreaming sessions. Based on EADTU reports, instruments and guidelines we visit member Associations and their members in their direct context of operation and discuss the opportunities of joining networks within EADTU and adopting newly developed approaches. On the 13th of December, EADTU visited Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza (AGH) in Krakow where the Polish Virtual University as well as other invited Polish universities were  present, like Jagellonian Universiteit Krakow, University of Lublin, University of Technology Warzaw, Pedagogical University of Krakow and University of Science and Technology Krakow.
Special interest was expressed for virtual mobility and quality in E-learning. The session was continued for another 2 days with a dedicated seminar on QA in E-learning, E-XCELLENCE.

On 28th November the Conference website was updated with keynote presentations, proceedings in ISBN-edition  and the draft version of the Message of Eskisehir.
Please check our website for the announcement of published pictures on shortest notice.

The Annual Conference turned out to be a succesfull event, thanks to the enthusiastic participants and speakers from more than 20 countries, the perfect coordination from Anadolu University and the committed leadership of Will Swann (The Open University) as Acting President of EADTU.

We are looking forward to our 25th Anniversary Conference in Cyprus, 27-28 September 2012, and hope to meet up with all our appreciated colleagues and friends!

Recently, EADTU visited the Open University of the UK to discuss the most prominent issues that are for most EU universities of present-day concern. Topics addressed were OUUK Institutional Strategies, the opportunities created by Open Educational Resources, Research and Enterprise, Open Media and Curriculum collaboration within Europe. Certainly, the OUUK shows well developed strategies in these fields that are of interest to many other universities in Europe. It was therefore  agreed with Vice-Chancellor  Martin Bean that the first meeting of the new EADTU TF University Strategies and Funding for European Open University rectors will be organised at the OUUK on the 31st of May 2012.

Following to the kick-off meeting of the Studyportals project that took place on 13th October 2011 in Heerlen, a first Task Force meeting took place during the Annual Conference in Eskisehir on 3th November 2011. Gathering and offering information on a European level to strengthen the European brand and contribute to the achievement of the European Higher Education Area, was enthusiastic adapted by all invited partner organisations.