Message of the President, July 27th, 2017

Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope that you are all enjoying some rest and recreation over the summer, building energy for the new academic year which will be upon us all too soon. Here at ECBE we are busy following up on strategic decisions taken by the Membership at the Moscow conference in May. Our thanks to International University Moscow (IUM) for hosting us so warmly and to all our Members who participated in a very successful event.

In Moscow, the Board was sorry to say goodbye to Dr Robert Rietbroek who has stepped down after 20 years of distinguished service as both a Board member and a Commissioner. His contribution to ECBE is immeasurable and we are glad that he will stay on as a Commissioner and a consultant on accreditation matters for some time to come. We will recognise Robert’s contribution formally at next year’s conference, in the same way that, this year in Moscow, we recognised the service Bryan Holden, Vladimir Burenin and Veronique Sournis have given to ECBE over so many years. In Robert’s place, we have welcomed Dr Alkis Tsiklis from AGSB in Switzerland to our Board. At next year’s AGM we expect to announce further rotations

The key issues which were discussed and approved at the AGM in Moscow were:

• Approval of the 2017 budget, including revised accreditation pricing structures. ECBE has achieved a substantial turnaround in its financial fortunes this year and our thanks go to our Treasurer, Jan Vanherck and our Executive Director, Jacques Bouche for this much-improved situation, which in turn has made it possible to move forward with our second strategic objective:
• To commence our application for full Membership of ENQA. This will be spearheaded by the Chairman of Commissioners, Dr Bob Johnston, but in truth this an effort which will require inputs and responses from all ECBE Members, especially those seeking accreditation or re-accreditation in the year ahead. Bob will be in touch as matters progress.

Elsewhere, Jacques has been busy visiting Members and listening to their interests and concerns and generally promoting ECBE. Most recently he attended the ACBSP conference in the USA, a reminder that ECBE is now a global institution, keen to encourage strategic alliances with like-minded organisations on other continents, including Africa, Asia and the Americas. On this note, I would like to draw your attention to an exciting opportunity for ECBE schools to explore contacts with Syracuse University in New York State. In particular, Syracuse is keen to attract your students onto its graduate programs in Information Management and Library & Information Science.     

Partial scholarship help is available.          
MS in Information Management (MS in IM) : https://ischool.syr.edu/academics/graduate/masters-degrees/ms-in-information-management/
MS in Library and Information Sciences (MS in LIS) : https://ischool.syr.edu/academics/graduate/masters-degrees/ms-library-and-information-science/

But they are also interested in wider aspects of co-operation. Please contact me or Susan Corieri  (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if you would like to know more.

Above all, ECBE is YOUR organisation. The Board and the Commissioners value your input at every level. In particular your support in recommending potential new Members is crucial.

In conclusion, I wish you all a relaxing summer and a successful academic year ahead. I look forward to welcoming you all to the 2018 conference in Madrid next May. Check out our website soon for details.

Warmest best wishes,

Ray Hilditch
President

July 27th, 2017.