Project Meeting, Addis Abeba, 15-16 May 2025

 In the splendid setting of the Italian Institute of Culture (IIC) in Addis Ababa, has taken place the first physical meeting of the Unitafrica Project, the TNE (PNRR) initiative involving 21 Italian universities, members of the Italian CUCS network, and 78 African universities located in 18 Sub-Saharan countries (www.unitafrica.it).
The proceedings, organised in general and specialised sessions, were attended by around 60 lecturers whose teaching activities, ranging from science to the humanities, have a marked
international and interdisciplinary character.
The opening institutional greetings were coordinated by the Director of the IIC Dr. Semen Kumurzhi, in the presence of the Ambassador Agostino Palese to Ethiopia, the Italian Ambassador Maurizio Busanelli to the African Union, the Rector of the University of Brescia
Francesco Castelli, the Director of Office III at MUR, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, Michele Mazzola (in connection from Rome), Dr. Laura Pacifici Noja, Scientific
Attaché of the Italian Embassy in Ethiopia.
Project coordinator Sabrina Sorlini, Professor of Environmental and Sanitary Engineering at the University of Brescia, illustrated the project’s progress, emphasising its extraordinary value within the framework of academic cooperation initiatives promoted by the Italian
university system. In fact, in terms of the number of participants, Unitafrica represents a unicum because it aims to bring together, through the creation of the Unitafrica Alliance, different university education experiences with a view to identifying best practices in the teaching field, also through the use of innovative training methods and with the aid of a Digital
Platform. The conference was imagined and realised in an interactive way, stimulating reflection
and sharing of learning experiences among the participants, with the aim of highlighting critical issues in project management and clarifying doubts on mobility procedures (i.e. VISA, learning agreement, accommodation, costs, scheduled activities, etc.).
The courses and Summer Schools (24 in total) that will start in May and continue for the duration of the project, which is scheduled to end in late March 2026, were explained in detail. The atmosphere of the meeting, marked by the desire to build lasting academic ties
between Italian and African universities, was enlivened by the exquisite hospitality of the ICC
and the Embassy of ITALY in Ethiopia, which opened the doors of its premises for the event’s
gala dinner.
Unitafrica laid the foundations for future cooperation initiatives, through the creation of a
community of university lecturers who will consolidate teaching and research projects, and
also stimulate the participation of students in international mobility in Africa and Italy. In the coming days, just in Ethiopia, some training courses aimed at students of Ethiopian universities will begin, to be followed by other training and exchange activities of teachers and students, for study, teaching and research activities. The webinar series will continue on a monthly basis as a time for discussion and debate on thematic areas of strategic interest for the promotion of educational and research initiatives in the Unitafrica partnership.