Who We Are

We are an alliance of com­pre­hen­sive research uni­ver­si­ties with dif­fer­ent sizes and tra­jec­to­ries gath­er­ing near­ly 250.000 stu­dents and 21.000 staff mem­bers. We are sit­u­at­ed in rur­al, moun­tain, and cross-bor­der regions across South­ern, West­ern and Cen­tral-East­ern Europe, in ecosys­tems shar­ing sim­i­lar chal­lenges and impact­ed by core-periph­ery dynamics.

We are based on a sol­id back­ground of expe­ri­ence in strate­gic uni­ver­si­ty net­works and joint research, as well as in edu­ca­tion­al and inno­va­tion projects.

We share a firm will­ing­ness to coop­er­ate on the basis of mutu­al trust in a trans­for­ma­tion­al project aim­ing at estab­lish­ing a new mod­el of increas­ing­ly col­lab­o­ra­tive and inte­grat­ed teach­ing, research and inno­va­tion through enhanced mobil­i­ty and with strong links to our ecosystems.

We are based on a sol­id back­ground of expe­ri­ence in strate­gic uni­ver­si­ty net­works and joint research, as well as in edu­ca­tion­al and inno­va­tion projects.

Who We Are

We are an alliance of com­pre­hen­sive research uni­ver­si­ties with dif­fer­ent sizes and tra­jec­to­ries gath­er­ing near­ly 250.000 stu­dents and 21.000 staff mem­bers. We are sit­u­at­ed in rur­al, moun­tain, and cross-bor­der regions across South­ern, West­ern and Cen­tral-East­ern Europe, in ecosys­tems shar­ing sim­i­lar chal­lenges and impact­ed by core-periph­ery dynamics.

We are based on a sol­id back­ground of expe­ri­ence in strate­gic uni­ver­si­ty net­works and joint research, as well as in edu­ca­tion­al and inno­va­tion projects.

We share a firm will­ing­ness to coop­er­ate on the basis of mutu­al trust in a trans­for­ma­tion­al project aim­ing at estab­lish­ing a new mod­el of increas­ing­ly col­lab­o­ra­tive and inte­grat­ed teach­ing, research and inno­va­tion through enhanced mobil­i­ty and with strong links to our ecosystems.

Our Members

Six of our insti­tu­tions con­tributed to launch the UNITA Uni­ver­si­tas Mon­tium expe­ri­ence in its first phase. From west to east: Uni­ver­si­dade da Beira Inte­ri­or, Uni­ver­si­dad de Zaragoza, Uni­ver­sité de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Uni­ver­sité Savoie Mont Blanc, Uni­ver­sità di Tori­no, and Uni­ver­si­tatea de Vest din Timisoara.

Four more uni­ver­si­ties shar­ing the com­mon fea­tures that make up the UNITA iden­ti­ty were invit­ed to join our alliance as asso­ci­at­ed part­ners: Insti­tu­to Politéc­ni­co da Guar­da, Uni­ver­si­dad Públi­ca de Navar­ra, Uni­ver­sità degli Stu­di di Bres­cia and Uni­ver­si­tatea Tran­sil­va­nia Brasov.

Two more insti­tu­tions with­in the Euro­pean High­er Edu­ca­tion Area par­take of our ambi­tions and some activ­i­ties as uni­ver­si­ty asso­ci­at­ed part­ners: the Haute Ecole Spé­cial­isée de Suisse Occi­den­tale in Switzer­land and the Yuriy Fed­kovych Cher­nivt­si Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty in Ukraine.

Our Name

The words ‘unidad, unidade, unità, uni­tate, unité’ inspire our name: UNITA. It evokes the strong links and com­mon­al­i­ties that bring us togeth­er to cre­ate a ground-break­ing and inno­v­a­tive alliance aim­ing at a deep­er lev­el of integration.

Uni­ver­si­tas Mon­tium, writ­ten in Latin, stress­es a com­mon her­itage and the fact that UNITA uni­ver­si­ties all speak Romance lan­guages, and are com­mit­ted to fos­ter­ing lin­guis­tic diver­si­ty and to the devel­op­ment of rur­al and cross-bor­der moun­tain territories.

Our slo­gan ‘Climb your future’ reflects our com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing the aspi­ra­tions of our grad­u­ates and our com­mu­ni­ties by fos­ter­ing their resilience to cope with life’s challenges.

What Brings Us Together

We share the com­mit­ment to con­tribute to the devel­op­ment of our soci­eties and ter­ri­to­ries in a Euro­pean dimension.

We are locat­ed in rur­al and cross-bor­der moun­tain regions across south­ern, cen­tral and east­ern Europe: Ser­ra da Estrela (Beira Inte­ri­or), the Pyre­nees (Pau and Zaragoza), the Alps (Savoie Mont Blanc and Tori­no), and the Banat Moun­tains (Timisoara), i.e. in ecosys­tems shar­ing sim­i­lar challenges;

We intend to active­ly use Romance lan­guages in addi­tion to Eng­lish, thus enhanc­ing lin­guis­tic diver­si­ty and pro­mot­ing inclusion;

Values · Mission · Vision

Values

We are strong­ly com­mit­ted to pro­mot­ing the Euro­pean demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ues of peace, human dig­ni­ty and human rights, equal­i­ty, diver­si­ty and inclu­sion, and to the con­struc­tion of a ful­ly-fledged Euro­pean Uni­ver­si­ty fos­ter­ing the Euro­pean way of life.

We believe in:

Sus­tain­abil­i­ty

Social

Respon­si­bil­i­ty

Euro­pean

Uni­ver­si­ty

Per­son­al

Devel­op­ment

Demo­c­ra­t­ic

Par­tic­i­pa­tion

Inclu­sive­ness

Val­ues

Social Responsibility

Fos­ter col­lec­tive aware­ness of com­mit­ment
to social well-being in its dif­fer­ent dimen­sions
(social, envi­ron­men­tal, cultural);

Sustainability

Use tech­ni­cal knowl­edge and skills to have a pos­i­tive impact on pro­tect­ing and improv­ing the envi­ron­ment around us;;

Inclusiveness

Pro­mote the inter­ac­tion of diverse peo­ples with a view to mak­ing soci­ety more just, more bal­anced, more equal and inclusive;

European University

Cre­at­ing a par­tic­i­pa­tive, open, inclu­sive and effec­tive Euro­pean uni­ver­si­ty, con­tribut­ing to strength­en­ing a Euro­pean Identity.

Democratic Participation

Cre­at­ing a par­tic­i­pa­tive Euro­pean uni­ver­si­ty
by pro­mot­ing stu­dent and staff involvement;

Personal Development

Pro­mote the search for knowl­edge as a way of improv­ing social well-being and strength­en­ing the indi­vid­u­al’s under­stand­ing, cross­ing geo­graph­i­cal boundaries;

Vision

The UNITA Alliance intends to build a ful­ly-fledged Euro­pean inter-uni­ver­si­ty cam­pus based on excel­lent teach­ing and learn­ing, research and inno­va­tion, and on civic engage­ment. Its goal is to dri­ve excel­lence in the Euro­pean High­er Edu­ca­tion area and become attrac­tive also for stu­dents from oth­er con­ti­nents, espe­cial­ly Africa and the Amer­i­c­as, with whom we share com­mon languages.

UNITA stu­dents will expe­ri­ence a chal­leng­ing mul­ti­lin­gual and stu­dent-cen­tred envi­ron­ment, close­ly linked to research and entre­pre­neur­ship. They will be able to build flex­i­ble per­son­al­ized cur­ric­u­la across the uni­ver­si­ties of the Alliance based on increased mobil­i­ty, phys­i­cal, blend­ed and vir­tu­al, thanks to new tools and new dig­i­tal spaces, and to the devel­op­ment of micro-cre­den­tials on inter-com­pre­hen­sion meth­ods, espe­cial­ly among Romance languages.

This Euro­pean Uni­ver­si­ty, com­mit­ted to being open, inclu­sive and effec­tive, will be devel­oped through a step-by-step approach, involv­ing stu­dents and staff in the project via par­tic­i­pa­tive gov­er­nance, with a long-term vision lead­ing to clos­er inte­gra­tion based on sus­tain­abil­i­ty and aim­ing to become a model.

The Alliance is firm­ly com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing the devel­op­ment of the soci­eties and ter­ri­to­ries in which it is estab­lished, and par­tic­u­lar­ly of those some­what periph­er­al areas such as rur­al and cross-bor­der moun­tain regions.

UNITA aims to respond to soci­etal chal­lenges and empow­er its stu­dents and staff to act as Euro­pean and glob­al cit­i­zens strong­ly com­mit­ted to the UN sus­tain­able devel­op­ment goals and the Euro­pean Green Deal, and aware of cul­tur­al and lin­guis­tic diver­si­ty, and of the chal­lenges fac­ing rur­al and moun­tain territories.

Mission

Our shared vision and val­ues dri­ve us to pur­sue these key objectives:

  • Cre­at­ing a par­tic­i­pa­tive, open, inclu­sive and effec­tive Euro­pean university
  • Devel­op­ing excel­lent research-dri­ven and stu­dent-cen­tred education.
  • Pro­mot­ing mul­ti­lin­gual­ism and the diver­si­ty of lan­guages in Europe.
  • Reduc­ing inequal­i­ties between core and non-cen­tral regions through the sus­tain­able devel­op­ment of rur­al and moun­tain areas.
  • Cre­at­ing an inspir­ing learn­ing environment.
  • Reach­ing Mobil­i­ty 4 all.
  • Con­tribut­ing to strength­en­ing a Euro­pean Identity.
  • Ensur­ing the con­ti­nu­ity and uptake of the UNITA approach.

Why UNITA?

  • Excel­lence in teach­ing and learn­ing strong­ly com­mit­ted to our rur­al and cross-bor­der moun­tain territories.
  • Mul­ti­lin­gual­ism pro­mot­ing Romance lan­guages and Inter-com­pre­hen­sion as inclu­sive instruments.
  • Sus­tain­abil­i­ty: Research and inno­va­tion in Renew­able ener­gies, Cul­tur­al her­itage, Cir­cu­lar econ­o­my, in par­tic­u­lar Bioeconomy,to strength­en our rur­al communities.
  • Euro­pean cit­i­zen­ship aware­ness of the chal­lenges of cli­mate change and of the impor­tance of diver­si­ty in our com­mon cul­tur­al heritage.
  • Par­tic­i­pa­tion: stu­dent and staff involve­ment for respon­si­ble insti­tu­tions fos­ter­ing per­son­al development.

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Uni­ver­si­ty Asso­ci­at­ed Partners:

The Euro­pean Com­mis­sion’s sup­port for the pro­duc­tion of this pub­li­ca­tion does not con­sti­tute an endorse­ment of the con­tents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Com­mis­sion can­not be held respon­si­ble for any use which may be made of the infor­ma­tion con­tained therein.

UNITA is also sup­port­ed by: X, Y, Z

The UNITA – Uni­ver­si­tas Mon­tium alliance is co-fund­ed by the Eras­mus+ Pro­gramme of the Euro­pean Union.

The Euro­pean Com­mis­sion’s sup­port for the pro­duc­tion of this pub­li­ca­tion does not con­sti­tute an endorse­ment of the con­tents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Com­mis­sion can­not be held respon­si­ble for any use which may be made of the infor­ma­tion con­tained therein.

The UNI­TA-Uni­ver­si­tas Mon­tium Euro­pean Eco­nom­ic Inter­est Group­ing (EEIG) was found­ed in Jan­u­ary 2023 by the six uni­ver­si­ties of the UNITA Alliance.

The EEIG is the first of its kind in Europe and will allow exper­i­men­ta­tion with new forms of transna­tion­al coop­er­a­tion to facil­i­tate aca­d­e­m­ic col­lab­o­ra­tion at Euro­pean lev­el, in line with the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion’s strate­gies in the field of high­er edu­ca­tion. The main objec­tive is to sup­port the oper­a­tion of the alliance in the uni­ver­si­ty’s insti­tu­tion­al mis­sions, giv­en the large num­ber of peo­ple involved. The EEIG will offer stu­dents excel­lent train­ing, strength­ened research staff and trans­dis­ci­pli­nary part­ner­ships capa­ble of pro­mot­ing inno­va­tion in their respec­tive ter­ri­to­ries and with a Euro­pean dimension.