The International University of Cuanza (UNIC) is located in the province of Bié, and is the biggest Highter education campus in the centre of Angola, distant from the capital Luanda. The University is located in Kuito. The city suffered severely from the civil war (1975-2002), to the point of being nicknamed the "African Stalingrad”. The consequences were dramatic in the economic and human development of the province. In terms of education and training, the province did not have a university.
UNIC is the biggest campus of the province, and currently the 2nd university in Angola (Web of Metrics Ranking) . A slow process of reconstruction began on the outskirts of the old urban centre, where UNIC's campus is located today. Through the development of the university, the aim is to offer the inhabitants of the region the possibility of access to higher education in an area particularly affected by the violence of the war.
The creation of the university was officially approved in 2020, inaugurated in 2021. Currently UNIC has 3067 students from the region, and offers its students a comprehensive education, based on excellence and committed to people and local communities. In addition to the competences of each subject or discipline, all students are guaranteed to acquire a high level of English and Spanish, transversal skills in the use of the most innovative technologies, teamwork and project planning and management.
UNIC has a training model inspired by best practices detected in other institutions, giving special prominence to the use of ICT, as well as a practice-oriented training including reflective-practice and service-learning methodologies, in order to improve local life conditions. With this learning approach, the aim is to promote student autonomy and acquisition of skills linked to requirements of their profession, facilitated by the integration of students in the labour market thanks to university’s collaboration agreements with companies.
