diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 8ee41cdf75e8157c1e9964d3791f29b76049339a..9d7f0f9bad6ce6356cfacc2234197202cd63a555 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
 		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
 		<targetJdk>1.6</targetJdk>
 		<org.springframework.version>3.1.2.RELEASE</org.springframework.version>
+		<org.hibernate.version>4.1.8.Final</org.hibernate.version>
 
 	    <!-- properties for testing and Q&A -->
 	    <!-- by default no tests are executed so far (April 2011). Use appropriate profiles and properties on the command line -->
@@ -1225,16 +1226,6 @@
 			<artifactId>smackx</artifactId>
 			<version>3.2.2</version>
 		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
-			<artifactId>lucene-highlighter</artifactId>
-			<version>3.0.2</version>
-		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
-			<artifactId>lucene-spellchecker</artifactId>
-			<version>3.0.2</version>
-		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
 			<artifactId>poi</artifactId>
@@ -1463,7 +1454,7 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
-			<version>4.1.7.Final</version>
+			<version>${org.hibernate.version}</version>
 			<exclusions>
 				<exclusion>
 					<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
@@ -1474,17 +1465,17 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
-			<version>4.1.7.Final</version>
+			<version>${org.hibernate.version}</version>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hibernate-ehcache</artifactId>
-			<version>4.1.7.Final</version>
+			<version>${org.hibernate.version}</version>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hibernate-c3p0</artifactId>
-			<version>4.1.7.Final</version>
+			<version>${org.hibernate.version}</version>
 			<exclusions>
 				<!-- includes an old version of c3p0 -->
 				<exclusion>
@@ -1506,7 +1497,7 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.velocity</groupId>
 			<artifactId>velocity</artifactId>
-			<version>1.6.4</version>
+			<version>1.7</version>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.json</groupId>
@@ -1569,11 +1560,23 @@
 			<classifier>patched</classifier> <!-- unknown patched version of jmep (java mathematical expression parser)[http://jmep.tigris.org/], 
 				do not replace unless you know what you do! -->
 		</dependency>
+		<!-- Lucene dependencies -->
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
 			<artifactId>lucene-core</artifactId>
 			<version>3.0.2</version>
 		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+			<artifactId>lucene-highlighter</artifactId>
+			<version>3.0.2</version>
+		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+			<artifactId>lucene-spellchecker</artifactId>
+			<version>3.0.2</version>
+		</dependency>
+		<!-- End lucene dependencies -->
 		<!-- Spring dependencies -->
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/olat/admin/user/bulkChange/UserBulkChangeManager.java b/src/main/java/org/olat/admin/user/bulkChange/UserBulkChangeManager.java
index f2a648837d76cf5f04d8e0165e35f1be7ec73946..d375d3831d9cbb90ba54e9cc22ec34675e11fa4c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/olat/admin/user/bulkChange/UserBulkChangeManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/olat/admin/user/bulkChange/UserBulkChangeManager.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
  */
 package org.olat.admin.user.bulkChange;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -272,7 +271,7 @@ public class UserBulkChangeManager extends BasicManager {
 			log.error("evaluating of values in BulkChange Field not possible!");
 			e.printStackTrace();
 			return "ERROR";
-		} catch (IOException e) {
+		} catch (Exception e) {
 			log.error("evaluating of values in BulkChange Field not possible!");
 			e.printStackTrace();
 			return "ERROR";
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/mail/MailerWithTemplate.java b/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/mail/MailerWithTemplate.java
index 87aeec6e72ef8d8f27f8bd549fd125a7678c0d27..d1b08178015f78f2134e70bf376c4d57b7673707 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/mail/MailerWithTemplate.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/mail/MailerWithTemplate.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 package org.olat.core.util.mail;
 
 import java.io.File;
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -331,7 +330,7 @@ public class MailerWithTemplate {
 		} catch (ResourceNotFoundException e) {
 			log.warn("can't send email from user template", e);
 			mailerResult.setReturnCode(MailerResult.TEMPLATE_GENERAL_ERROR);
-		} catch (IOException e) {
+		} catch (Exception e) {
 			log.warn("can't send email from user template", e);
 			mailerResult.setReturnCode(MailerResult.TEMPLATE_GENERAL_ERROR);
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/olat/ims/qti/render/LocalizedXSLTransformer.java b/src/main/java/org/olat/ims/qti/render/LocalizedXSLTransformer.java
index dbbd8def04a703faecd5efa3158bfa628a3b87a4..30420a9a3ef1df78c340fdd664a182ef5456de53 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/olat/ims/qti/render/LocalizedXSLTransformer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/olat/ims/qti/render/LocalizedXSLTransformer.java
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ public class LocalizedXSLTransformer {
 		} catch (ResourceNotFoundException e) {
 			log.error("xsl-file of LocalizedXSLTransformer not found!", e);
 			return "ERROR";
-		} catch (IOException e) {
+		} catch (Exception e) {
 			log.error("could not read xsl-file of LocalizedXSLTransformer!", e);
 			return "ERROR";
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/olat/modules/cp/CPOfflineReadableManager.java b/src/main/java/org/olat/modules/cp/CPOfflineReadableManager.java
index 4b1fb3d8497176dc168a2628af5c636d4c7dae5c..1c2e9af677d271b7c255d394a081481d9472715e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/olat/modules/cp/CPOfflineReadableManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/olat/modules/cp/CPOfflineReadableManager.java
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ public class CPOfflineReadableManager {
 			boolean evalResult = velocityEngine.evaluate(ctx, sw, "cpexport", template);
 			if (!evalResult)
 				log.error("Could not evaluate velocity template for CP Export");
-		} catch (IOException e) {
+		} catch (Exception e) {
 			log.error("Error while evaluating velovity template for CP Export",e);
 		}