The opening speech of the conference was given by Simon Lebus, Group Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment, which together with the University of Cambridge, hosted the conference.

Mr Lebus said he was delighted to be hosting ALTE 2008 as part of celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the University’s establishment of Cambridge Assessment. The conference theme reflected the central role language acquisition and testing has to play in an age of mass migration by supporting the development of successful, civilised and culturally rich modern societies.

The conference was held in support of the UN’s designation of 2008 as the International Year of Languages and the EU’s declaration of 2008 as the Year of Intercultural Dialogue. He said international organisations such as ALTE could make a difference at a time when: “rapid development in national and international language policy means governments, administrators and supranational institutions need ever more specialist expertise and advice.”

Dr Michael Milanovic, Chief Executive of Cambridge ESOL and Manager of ALTE offered thanks to the hosts of ALTE2008, Cambridge University and Cambridge Assessment, and also to the sponsors, the United Nations and the Council of Europe

He said the interest ALTE 2008 generated demonstrated the growing importance of language assessment: “This is a gathering of assessment professionals focusing not only on professional matters in our field but also engaging positively in debate on language in a social, economic and political context. If our voices are to be heard then we need … the capacity to see things from a number of perspectives and in organising this conference, one of our main aims was to recognise the divergence of views, opinions and perceptions in order to help this process of building mutual understanding.”