The Ministry of Education and Research will announce a competition for finding a new director general this fall; until then, the director general's tasks will be performed by the ministry's secretary general Mart Laidments, spokespeople for the ministry said.

"Ulla Ilisson has done great work with the launch of the Education and Youth Board created through the merger of four institutions - the Innove and Archimedes foundations, the Estonian Youth Work Center and the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA) and led the authority through the most complicated stage of the merger during its first year of operation. We would like to thank the first director general for her hard work, courageous decisions and initiative," Laidmets said.

Ilisson said that the first year of operation at the Education and Youth Board had been action-packed, adding that it is now time for her to pursue new challenges, however.

"Launching a new authority on the basis of four different institutions and assembling a functional team proved exciting challenges. I am very pleased that I was able to use my experience to contribute to Estonian education and youth work," she added.

The second year of operation should see the organization of work between the Education and Youth Board and the Ministry of Education and Research rendered even more coherent and efficient. Cutting costs is an important objective for the authority, similar to what has been agreed upon for all other ministries' areas of administration.

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