It certainly does not seem to be a year since, as chair-designate of the Education and Management Division (EMD), I prepared an editorial for the May � June 2006 edition of IFCC News!  A lot has happened in these intervening months and there are exciting times ahead for the EMD.In the autumn the Division called for nominations for a new member for its Executive Committee.  There were several nominations from IFCC member organisations and I would like to thank all those individuals who allowed their names to be put forward as well as those who nominated them.  Dr Stella Raymondo, from Uruguay was selected as the new EC member and attended her first meeting in an unseasonably warm Milan in January.

After many years of taking the lead in the co-ordination and organisation of the Visiting Lecturer Programme (VLP), Dr Mary Burritt has stepped down from this role and Professor Leslie Lai is the new contact for this important project.  I am sure that those who have been involved in organising VLPs in their own countries or who have been fortunate to hear presentations by the Visiting Lecturers will join me in thanking Mary for the hard work she has put into promoting the VLP, and providing expert advice to both lecturers and the societies hosting them.  But more of the VLP later!

The imminent launch of a major new project by IFCC, a project aimed specifically to the promotion of external quality assessment (EQA) and accreditation in developing countries, will lead to new responsibilities for the EMD.  The two strands of the initiative, EQA and accreditation, fall within the remits of two EMD Committees, the Committee for Analytical Quality (C-AQ) and the Committee for Clinical Laboratory Management (C-CLM).  However, there are roles for other EMD committees, such as the Committee on Curriculum Development (C-CD), which now encompasses the work of the former Working Group on Distance Education, as well as other Divisions within IFCC.  Because of the increased work associated with the project, a call for nominations for additional members of the C-CLM and the C-AQ will be sent to national societies and we will be looking to recruit individuals with expertise and experience in the fields of accreditation and in the support of EQA initiatives in developing countries.

We anticipate many different means will be used to help developing countries.  A Workshop is planned for the ICCC meeting in Fortaleza, in 2008 entitled �How to develop a Quality system�, a topic which will be essential for any laboratory personnel seeking accreditation to understand and apply in their own laboratories.  There are some well-established collaborations between countries where EQA is an essential component of routine practice with others who are just starting to introduce EQA.  The EMD wishes to learn from these and promote similar collaborations in other parts of the world.  To provide the knowledge-base, paper-based and electronically accessible learning materials will be developed. 

To return to the VLP, the EMD is delighted to report that Abbott Diagnostics has pledged to provide generous financial support to the programme, for a period of five years.  The level of support will allow expansion of the programme in the coming months and years and we anticipate that it will dovetail into the project for support for developing countries.  IFCC Member societies have already been contacted and invited to make applications for VLP funding and we hope that programmes can be organised in all IFCC Regions.  Programmes which involve collaborations between several member countries within a Region are particularly encouraged.

So, the Division has a busy, but I�m sure a very rewarding, time ahead.  Its committees continue to organise and participate in workshops and symposia at IFCC scientific congresses and this year we have sessions on a variety of topics at the Euromedlab meeting in Amsterdam and the Asian Pacific meeting in Beijing.  I hope that some readers of IFCC News will be able to attend these sessions and benefit from the hard work and expertise of our committee members.