UNITA alliance's head of office: "We intend to continue beyond 2027"

The UNITA European university alliance has founded a network of 31 universities across four continents to open their research and student exchange activities to their new global partners and develop capacity-building projects, Francisco do Adro, Head of the UNITA office and local coordinator for the alliance at Portugal's University da Beira Interior, told News Tank on 03/11/2025.

The alliance was among the first of the 65 alliances to form a legal entity, which has now been operating for two years. UNITA has ten full members and two associate members in rural, mountain, and cross-border regions in seven countries across Southern, Western and Central-Eastern Europe. It was created in November 2020, during the second call for applications from the European Commission, and started quickly to look into forming a legal entity, Francisco do Adro said.

UNITA also created six research hubs to connect its researchers and share infrastructure within the alliance, and the next step is to include its 31 partners from the GEMINAE network of Romance-language universities as well.

The alliance…