During the latest General Assembly of eucen, held 4 June 2015 in Istanbul (TR), eucen Members elected Françoise de Viron as the new President of the Association.

Professor Françoise de Viron has been actively involved in University Lifelong Learning (ULLL) for more than 14 years, after spending 15 years in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Training Systems in the private sector. She was Director of the Lifelong Learning (LLL) Unit at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) from 2003 to 2009. Since 2009, she is Professor at the UCL, teaching in Education and Management Sciences in two Master degrees: the Business Engineering Master and the Education Sciences Master, the latest being fully dedicated to adults. She is presently doing research and action research in the field of Adult Education and ULLL. Within her university she is currently a member of the Continuing Education Council in charge of the LLL strategy and policy.

Opening her statement, Françoise de Viron expressed her commitment to strengthen eucen’s engagement in launching and developing new strategic projects, anchored in the organisation’s research or action-research experience and stated her will to foster the collaboration with new partners from diverse sectors, both non-for-profit and profit. She highlighted how projects contribute to feed eucen‘s knowledge and know-how, making it a major European network contributing to the European discussions and making LLL a reality in its member institutions.

Consolidating eucen’s role at European level will be one of the President’s main commitments, enhancing the role of the network as a competent player on the European stage, contributing in all important discussions at European level in a changing World, supporting the development of “inclusive, innovative and reflective societies” as written in Horizon2020 plan (VET, VNIL, and Social Dimension of ULLL). eucen will develop position papers and policy recommendations, looking at the EU policy agenda and monitoring EU activities.

Prof. de Viron concluded by stressing the need to reinvigorate and expand the knowledge transfer within and outside eucen‘s members – eucen Members with their own expertise and practices are the main intellectual asset of the Association, which will be made visible and accessible to other members. A large number of tools and methods have been accumulated through years and projects, and eucen will organise efficient ways to valorise them and use them. For this reason, the new eucen President stated that the Association will look at and develop more attractive ways for connecting and mobilising people.