The Institutional Network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA), is a network of 42 universities

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

, gathering main Higher Education Institutions located in the European capital cities

Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

. It was founded in 1990 on the initiative of Université Libre de Bruxelles

Université Libre de Bruxelles

The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...

 . The mission of the Network, which has a combined strength of over 120,000 staff and 1,500,000 students, is to promote academic excellence, integration and co-operation among its Member Universities throughout Europe. It also seeks to be a driving force in the development of the Bologna process

Bologna process

The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...

 and to facilitate the integration of universities from Central

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

 and Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

 into the European Higher Education Area

European Higher Education Area

The European Higher Education Area was launched along with the Bologna Process' decade anniversary, in March 2010, during the Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference....

.

UNICA activities are divided into 5 main categories - clusters:

- Internationalisation and Mobility

- Education

- Research and Development

- Policy and Strategy

- Mission and Link with Society

Internalisation and Mobility

IRO.
For the implementation and achievement of the UNICA Internationalisation and Mobility goals, the International Relations Officers (IROs) from Member Universities play a main role. IROs meet at least once a year to discuss UNICA approaches, initiatives and policies in the field of higher education. Projects and collaboration within Member Universities are developed within various UNICA working groups.

UNICA Student Conference.
Organised every two years, UNICA Student Conference gathers students from UNICA Member Universities for a three-day meeting during which they examine and debate on Europe’s most pertinent issues. The meeting’s objective is to encourage the participants to share their views and develop their recommendations while working in multinational and multicultural teams. A final publication, sent later to the European Commission for its consideration, gathers the conclusions and suggestions of the students.

Student Mobility.
UNICA promotes and facilitates student exchanges within the Network.

Staff Mobility.
In order to improve the exchange of best practices between Universities, UNICA has developed a project of exchange of academic staff within Member Universities.

UNICA Chair.
UNICA Chair is a project implemented by the City and the University of Lausanne and carried out via annual cycles of conferences. The objective of this project is the exchange of academic staff within UNICA Universities in order to develop relations between the university and the city and to enhance collaboration between UNICA Members.

Education

Bologna Lab.
The Bologna Lab is coordinated by the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

. The aim of this Laboratory is to present best practices related to the implementation of the Bologna process

Bologna process

The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...

.

Joint Programmes.
UNICA awards grants for the development of the most interesting Joint Programmes (Master and PhD). Till now, eight joint programmes have received the UNICA grant.

Admission and Recognition.
UNICA has established a working group of experts dealing with Admission and Recognition issues within Member Universities.

UNICA European Campus.
Starting with a limited number of Universities, the European Campus aims to create an area of free movement of students, reducing the administrative procedures to the minimum .

Research and Development

In the research and development field, two main seminars are organised:

- PhD Coordinators' Meetings

- The EU Research Seminar

- The EU Research Officers is a group of experts dealing with EU Research policies and initiatives within Member Universities.

Policy and Strategy

In the framework of Policy and Strategy, UNICA organises every year a Rectors’ Seminar to discuss governance and policy issues and to exchange best practices between Member Universities.

The Scholarly Communication Seminar is an initiative to provide a think tank on the evolution of the role of libraries in the Universities.

UNICA also benefits from European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 grants on Higher Education sector. It has submitted some projects which have been approved and implemented.

Mission and Link with Society

UNICA Urban-Capital working group aims to analyse and to give solutions to problems and changes taking place in capital cities. UNICA also cooperates with the ¨Union of the Capitals of the European Union (UCEU).

Structure

The Network's internal organisation consists in three bodies: the General Assembly (with one meeting per year), the Steering Committee (with four meetings per year) and the International Relations Officers' Committee (with two meetings per year). The General Secretariat situated in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 assures general co-operation and administration of the Network.

UNICA Contact Persons

Each UNICA Member University is represented by a Contact Person. Such system enables easy communication and fast information flow between the University Members.

UNICA Member Universities

Country	Institution(s)
	University of Tirana University of Tirana The University of Tirana is a public university located in Tirana, Albania.-History:UT was founded in 1957 as the State University of Tirana through the merging of five existing institutes of higher education, the most important of which was the Institute of Sciences, founded in 1947... Polytechnic University of Tirana Polytechnic University of Tirana The Polytechnic University of Tirana is a public university located in Tirana, the capital of Albania. It offers degrees in engineering and related fields.- History :...
	University of Vienna University of Vienna The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
	Vrije Universiteit Brussel Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Flemish university located in Brussels, Belgium. It has two campuses referred to as Etterbeek and Jette.The university's name is sometimes abbreviated by "VUB" or translated to "Free University of Brussels"... Université Libre de Bruxelles Université Libre de Bruxelles The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
	Sofia University Sofia University The St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia or Sofia University is the oldest higher education institution in Bulgaria, founded on 1 October 1888...
	University of Zagreb University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
	University of Cyprus University of Cyprus The University of Cyprus is a public coeducational university established by the Republic of Cyprus in 1989. It admitted its first students in 1992 and has currently approximately 6000 students .-History:...
	Charles University in Prague Charles University in Prague Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
	University of Copenhagen University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
	Tallinn University Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn University of Technology is the only university of technology in Estonia, and one of the three most important institutions of higher education in Estonia generally. It is located in the capital city of Tallinn, Estonia...
	University of Helsinki University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...
	University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle The New Sorbonne University is a public university in Paris, France.The Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle is a founding member of the Paris Universitas, a union of 6 Parisian universities.... Paris VI University Paris Dauphine University
	Free University of Berlin Free University of Berlin Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the... Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens National and Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...
	Eötvös Loránd University
	University College Dublin University College Dublin University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
	Sapienza University of Rome University of Rome Tor Vergata University of Rome Tor Vergata The University of Rome Tor Vergata is a public university located in Rome, Italy. It is one of the largest research-based institutions in the country. The University is an international center for research and education and it is well known for scientific studies... Roma Tre University
	University of Latvia University of Latvia University of Latvia is a university located in Riga, Latvia. Being established in 1919, University of Latvia is the biggest university in the Baltic states.-History:...
	University of Vilnius
	Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
	University of Amsterdam
	University of Oslo University of Oslo The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
	University of Warsaw University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...
	University of Lisbon New University of Lisbon New University of Lisbon Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, , also known as NOVA ) was established in 1973 and is the youngest of the three public universities of Lisbon, in Portugal....
	University of Bucharest University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
	Lomonosov Moscow State University
	University of Belgrade University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
	Comenius University in Bratislava Comenius University in Bratislava Comenius University in Bratislava is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th century Czech teacher and philosopher.In 2006, Comenius...
	University of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
	Autonomous University of Madrid Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid is one of the top university of Spain and commonly known by its Spanish initials UAM or as "la Autónoma"... Complutense University of Madrid Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
	Stockholm University Stockholm University Stockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 28,000 students at four faculties, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...
	University of Lausanne University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 12,000 students and 2200 researchers study and work at the university...
	University College London University College London University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

External links

• Official website