UNITA - Universitas Montium12 universities, 7 countries, 1 alliance
An alliance of universities from 7 countries
UNITA is composed of:
- l’Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI - Portugal)
- l’Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (UPPA - France)
- l’Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB - France)
- l’Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara (UVT - Roumanie)
- l’Università degli studi di Torino (UNITO - Italie)
- l’Universidad de Zaragoza (UNIZAR - Espagne)
- l'Instituto Politécnico da Guarda (IPG - Portugal)
- l'Università degli Studi di Brescia (UniBS - Italie)
- l'Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA - Espagne)
- l'Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov (UniTBv - Roumanie)
Associated partners:
- Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale (HES-SO - Suisse)
- Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Ukraine)
Each member university of UNITA plays a vital role in its local community, actively participating in the development of European regions often perceived as peripheral. This includes rural areas dealing with depopulation challenges, where UNITA tends to make a meaningful impact.
UNITA intends to play a role in promoting these regions with common characteristics, in particular through joint actions with associated partners.
Already linked to UPPA by close relationships, two local associate partners have agreed to join UNITA:
*UNITA is a European university supported by the European Union and co-financed by the European Commission's Erasmus+ programme and the French National Research Agency (ANR-20-GURE-0014 agreement).
Mobilities
The Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) is a programme mixing :
- virtual learning activities
- a 5-day period of physical mobility
Taking part in a BIP enables students to :
- Travel in Europe to one of the member universities of the UNITA Alliance, with financial support from an Erasmus+ mobility grant.
- Immerse themselves in a group of 20 UNITA students, in international academic and professional contexts to develop intercultural skills.
- Develop/reinforce knowledge of the chosen theme
- Develop skills and know-how related to the experience of working in multicultural teams
- Improve skills in English and Romance languages
UNITA offers all UPPA students the opportunity to take part in courses given entirely remotely from one of the Alliance's member universities. These courses can be synchronous (in real time), asynchronous (deferred) or hybrid (a mixture of the two). They are given in the local language or in English.
The catalogue of available courses is put online shortly before the summer holidays and at the start of the new academic year.
UPPA students are immersed in a foreign organisation and take part in the organisation's activities/projects for a period of between 3 weeks and 4 months during the summer. The transversal theme of these internships is the promotion of local heritage.
A call for applications is organised every year in March and April.
Physical mobility over one or more semesters is aimed at UPPA undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students who wish to add an international colour to their profile. These exchanges are part of the Erasmus+ programme.
UNITA Alliance offers agreements in various fields of study.
Multilinguism
Intercomprehension between Romance languages is an approach widely promoted by UNITA. It provides techniques and strategies for easily understanding the different Romance languages used in the countries of the alliance, and for making people understand each other in their own language, without using a third language. In this way, everyone can communicate with people who do not speak their own language, but a language from the same linguistic family.
UNITA currently offers intercomprehension training for students, teachers and administrative staff.
Organised every last Thursday of the month by the CRL, the Café Mundus at Aquiu, Passage Carnot in Pau is a great opportunity for everyone to come and practise or discover new languages.
Discover:
- Conversation tables to practice languages: Spanish, English, Russian, Portuguese, German, Basque and Béarnais, etc. Tables can be spontaneously formed according to the speakers present.
- an area for discovering unusual languages such as Turkish, Afghan, Indonesian, Twi, etc.
- an intercomprehension area: come and discover techniques and strategies for understanding different Romance languages.
Research & Innovation
Six areas have been defined to structure research. The hubs (or poles) are structured around these areas. Their aim is to bring together researchers from UNITA's partner universities in order to encourage the creation of research programmes and the submission of joint projects:
- Cultural heritage
- Green energy
- Circular economy and environment
- Digital transitions
- Inclusive society
- Global health
Tools such as a cartography of research activities and a network of shared infrastructures have been set up.
The 3-year Re-UNITA project, coordinated by UPPA and funded up to €2 million as part of the SWAFS - H2020 programme, will contribute to the emergence of a shared research and innovation agenda within the UNITA alliance. As coordinator, UPPA is responsible for ensuring that the project's activities are properly implemented, in conjunction with the universities in the Unita alliance.
On 24 September 2021, UPPA celebrated the launch of the "Re-UNITA: Research for UNITA" project. More than 40 representatives of UNITA universities were present in Pau to find out about the objectives of Re-UNITA and to listen to a presentation by two representatives of the European Commission.
5 main objectives were defined:
- Develop joint and collaborative European research programmes based on interdisciplinarity
- Develop a joint strategy to attract European researchers at all stages of their careers and to promote the Alliance's researchers
- Create an innovative European network of shared infrastructures
- Contribute to the vitality and socio-economic diversification of mountain regions and cross-border communities
- Ensure the dissemination of research results and the spread of science in society.
Contact: reunita @ univ-pau.fr
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Practical informations
Come and meet us on the ground floor of the Présidence building - Pau Campus
General information: unita @ univ-pau.fr
Mobility issues: unita-mobilites @ univ-pau.fr
Intercomprehension questions: lesparre.g @ univ-pau.fr
