UNITA Offices

Members

Staff members from each University.

Role

Coordinated by a UNITA Office Coordinator, UNITA Offices (UOs) ensure the smooth roll-out of day-by-day activities in all the action lines of the alliance. They provide support to the TTs in management and coordination matters. As local actors in each University, they play a central role in the integration of UNITA actions into the partners’ academic and administrative life. They embody the presence of the Alliance in the Universities and are a landing point for UNITA students and staff involved in mobility programmes and in shared activities, as well as a connection point with other projects of the UNITA Constellation, associated partners, and other possible external actors.

Frequency

• Monthly, on the 2nd week of the month, on Thursday, at 11 am CET.

Responsibilities

• Ensure the integration of UNITA actions in the academic and administrative life of each member university, through the integration of local offices and communities of best practice.
• Coordinate initiatives related to learning innovation and other transversal areas (e.g., Blended Learning and Mobility).
• Provide support and back-up to the Task Teams, and ensure the integration of UNITA actions in the academic life of each member university, through the collaboration of local offices and communities of best practice.
• Participate in project meetings as needed and contribute to the resolution of issues, as well as in the Project-End Meeting to derive and document useful lessons learned for the Partners and the Alliance.
• Facilitate the creation of communities of practice for UO and local officers; identify tools and strategies to implement the actions of UNITA.
• A communication flow among the bodies has been defined during the first phase of the project and will be updated considering the growing complexity of an alliance with 10 + 2 universities.

Roles within each UNITA Office

• UO coordinator: Head of the UNITA Office, the UO coordinator oversees the activities of the office and the interactions of the office with other administrative and/or academic structures, ensuring a sustainable integration of UNITA in the institutional development processes of the university.
• Agile project manager: Trained in agile project management, the UO project manager supports the TT and WP co-leaders of its own university in the implementation of activities. It ensures the correct application of UNITA's Management Guide, for example by checking that:
  • meetings are notified in time
  • materials are provided as planned
  • minutes are correctly filled, with actions assigned to all TT members
  • budget is spent correctly
  • the project team meets regularly in each university to ensure cooperation among tasks and adequate reporting.
• Liaison officer: Familiarized with the UNITA constellation projects and/or actions involving external stakeholders that are not included in the project but support UNITA's vision, the Liaison Officer may be the same person as the UO coordinator in some stages of UNITA's development. This person supports connections between the EUI project and other projects, raises flags when overlapping activities and/or budgeting may be involved, promotes links between the different projects of the UNITA Alliance, improves information flow across projects by transversal areas, and identifies overlapping tasks to allow better integration. Specific tasks include:
  • Collecting information (GB, MCs, WPs, QEB/QES)
  • Developing communication tools to improve mutual knowledge in the UNITA Constellation projects
  • Contributing to mutualisation and streamlining through alignment meetings regarding transversal areas among WPs and Task Leaders and meetings with Project Managers of the UNITA Constellation.
• Financial manager: Ensures the correct and efficient spending of the budget, according to project activities and needs, as well as national and EU regulations. Works in close cooperation with the Project Manager.
• Communication officer: Ensures the internal and external dissemination of UNITA activities and results in each university and its local/regional ecosystem. Works closely with other communication officers in the alliance and with the local-level communication office.
• Events officer: Coordinates the organisation of UNITA events in each university from a logistical point of view, working in close connection with the Project Manager, Task Team(s) responsible for the event, and the Communication Officer.
• Mobility manager: Coordinates all UNITA mobility-related matters, including specific project activities or other mobilities aimed at deeper integration of the alliance. Works closely with the Task 2.4 local coordinator, as well as the UO project manager and UO coordinator. Aims to increase mobilities among their university and other alliance universities.
• Administrative assistant: Supports the UO project manager and the UO coordinator in organising day-to-day activities of the office.
• IT expert: A specialist in IT fields necessary for developing digital solutions for a smooth implementation of alliance activities and for the continuous development and maintenance of the UNITA inter-university digital campus, working closely with the UNITA IT Department of the legal entity.