UNITA was founded as an alliance of 6 comprehensive research universities from 5 countries from west to east:

• Universidade de Beira Interior (UBI, Portugal)
• Universidad de Zaragoza (UNIZAR, Spain)
• Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (UPPA, France)
• Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB, France)
• Università di Torino (UNITO, Italy)
• Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara (UVT, Romania) 

In 2022, 4 new partners will join the alliance:

• Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov (UNITBV, Romania)
• Università degli Studi di Brescia (UNIBS, Italy)
• Politécnico da Guarda (IPG, Portugal)
• Universidad Publica de Navarra (UPNA, Spain) 

The University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO, Switzerland) and Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (CHNU, Ukraine) also join the consortium as associate partners.