The University of Beira Interior is a public university located in the city of Covilhã, Portugal. It was created in 1979, and has about 6,879 students distributed across a multiplicity of graduation courses, awarding all academic degrees in fields ranging from medicine, biochemistry, biomedical sciences and industrial design to aeronautical engineering, mathematics, economics and philosophy.

The university is named after the historical Beira region, meaning Beira Interior the most interior area of Beira, mainly composed by the district of Guarda and the district of Castelo Branco, in today’s Centro region.

Organisation

For teaching and research purposes, UBI is organised into five Faculties. The Faculties are organised in Departments:

• The Faculty of Sciences includes the Department of Mathematics, Informatics; Physics; and Chemistry.
• The Faculty of Engineering Sciences includes the Departments of Textile Science and Technology; Paper Science and Technology; Electromechanical Engineering; Civil Engineering; and Aerospace Sciences.
• The Faculty of Human and Social Sciences is made up of the Department of Management and Economics; Department of Sociology; Department of Education Sciences and the Department of Sports Sciences.
• The Faculty of Arts and Letters includes the Department of Communication and Arts; and the Department of Letters
• The Faculty of Health Sciences includes the Department of Medical Sciences.

All departments of the university grant the undergraduate licenciado degree (licentiate’s degree or bachelor’s degree), which requires a three-year full-time study programme. UBI also awards postgraduate courses in the fields that are offered by its departments, granting the degrees of mestre (master’s degree) and doutor (Ph.D.).

In order to supply its own needs and those of the local community itself, the university has also five centres: the Teaching and Learning Resources Centre (CREA); the Centre for Patrimonial Studies and Recovery (CEPP); the Computer Centre (CI); the Optics Centre (CO) and the Centre of Studies for Regional Development (CEDR) which establishes the interface between the university and the community providing consulting services to local institutions in the areas of regional development.

The Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira (Cova da Beira Hospital Center), with facilities in Covilhã and Fundão, is the teaching hospital of the University of Beira Interior. Hospitals of Castelo Branco and Guarda also collaborate with the Faculty of Health Sciences.