Ulf’s departure comes at the end of a period in which he saw through the development of European Schoolnet (EUN) from a vision to the thriving and respected organisation it is today. EUN was set up in 1997 following a decision by Ministers of Education. The full European operation started in September 1998 when the EUN Office was set up in Brussels.

Since that time Ulf has worked tirelessly to achieve the two objectives set by the Ministers of Education: to promote the European dimension in education and support the introduction of new technologies for education.

Among his many achievements, recognised in Europe and globally, are creating a consortium of 28 ministries of education to guide the work of EUN, leading some 50 large-scale projects for school collaboration, policy and practice innovation and standards and interoperability, organising the annual EMINENT conferences, and gathering a talented multi-national team around him in the EUN office.

Marc Durando takes up his duties as Executive Director on 25 September 2006 and, together with the Chair, Odile de Chalendar and the Steering Committee, will lead EUN’s work to continue the promotion of the European dimension in education and to put ICT at the heart of teaching and learning in Europe’s schools. Key to achieving this will be relying on the foundations already set up in these last years  and building strong and constructive relationships with the education community, education ministries and the ICT industry and leading programmes of work to deliver EUN's remit, within a rapidly changing and evolving environment.

European Schoolnet, will carry on providing state of the art services to its stakeholders and the European Commission which has entrusted EUN to provide schools and education professionals with successful portals such as eTwinning, Spring Day in Europe, Insafe, Calibrate…

Marc’s priorities are to continue the work already undertaken but also to take into account the new priorities defined by the Ministries for the next period to come. In addition, he will deal with management and budgetary challenges, to ensure a dynamic balance between EUN’s three strands of activities and to ensure that EUN works effectively with partners throughout Europe to meet stakeholder expectations.

Marc is 47 years old. He has an engineering background and is a civil servant in the French Ministry of Education, working in the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine. For the past 20 years, he has concentrated on the development of policies in the field of education and training, contributing to the design, launch and management of Community programmes in the education and training area (1986-1998), as Director of two Technical Assistance Offices such as COMETT and more specifically SOCRATES & YOUTH. He then worked at the Pôle Universitaire Européen de Lorraine as Director of development where he supervised several consultancy and expertise activities in the field of European cooperation in education and training. Marc has also written a number of studies or reports at the request of the European Commission in the field of European cooperation in education and training. He is married with two children.

Speaking on 21 September 2006, Odile de Chalendar said: "On behalf of the EUN Steering Committee and Board of Directors, I would like to place on record my thanks to Ulf for his dedication to the ideals of the EUN over many years. Drawing upon his considerable experience of education, politics, new technologies and the European scene, Ulf contributed much to our thinking in these vital areas and we wish him well for the future. We look forward to working with Marc to strengthen and develop EUN.”