The UAB forms part of a new strategic alliance of Ibero-American universities

The Ibero-American Forum of Universities (FIU) was created with the aim of establishing a space for work and debate among top-level universities to offer innovative and shared solutions to the major challenges affecting higher education, research and transfer to society. In 2026, the forum will invite other universities in Latin America to join this alliance, with the aim of holding a first plenary meeting with up to a maximum of 25 institutions at the end of the year.

Among other objectives, the new forum wants to "generate documents on good practices, especially in research and transfer", which will become reference texts, as well as "influence decision-making by governments and those responsible for higher education, research and transfer". The FIU will also promote multilingualism and, since it is defined in the declaration as an "influence group", it will not be able to receive "any type of public financial support".

Rector Lafuente stated that this new alliance "responds to the inescapable need to face global challenges from a new model of cooperation that is also global, aligned with the internationalisation strategy of pioneering institutions like the UAB, that are open to the world". According to him, the Ibero-American space of higher education "is an area of ​​collaboration and fundamental exchange for the UAB", which maintains important relationships with Latin American institutions both in terms of staff and student mobility, and cooperation in research and transfer. Therefore, according to Rector Lafuente, this new alliance "starts from a solid base and at the same time will strengthen the synergies between universities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean". For the rector, "alliances such as the FIU or the ECIU University - the European alliance of the UAB - must enhance the role of universities in a globalised society and the impact of knowledge transfer on a new scale".