The Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER) is an international institution for educational, cultural, and scientific-technical cooperation that, since its creation in Spain in 1997, facilitates access to higher education by establishing mechanisms that remove economic and geographic barriers. FUNIBER creates wide-ranging scholarship programs, as well as grants and other specific measures for this purpose.
With offices in more than thirty-five countries, FUNIBER is the first university platform in the multinational environment of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, known as the Pan-Iberian or Iberophone Space. The foundation has established an extensive International University Network, with six owned universities across three continents, and holds several collaboration agreements with more than one hundred higher education institutions worldwide.
FUNIBER acts as a prescriptive institution in the field of cultural and linguistic geopolitics and higher education, combining the most advanced techniques of face-to-face and distance learning modalities, and also promoting academic cooperation with actions of cultural promotion, scientific-technical development, and entrepreneurship promotion. Through FUNIBER, students from all over the world can pursue undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from internationally recognized institutions.
For FUNIBER, education is the main driver of individual and collective progress; therefore, at the Iberoamerican University Foundation, we work so that talent has no limits or borders.
The FUNIBER Model
FUNIBER provides assistance and support to universities as a cooperative organization working together with higher education institutions. Its approach is based on strengthening the university's work by establishing a link between the educational needs of society and an academic offer of excellence. This collaboration is key to its institutional role, allowing for an agility and scope that a single institution could hardly achieve. It acts as a driver that unites resources, knowledge, and opportunities for the development of societies.
FUNIBER around the World
FUNIBER is distinguished by its outstanding presence and performance in more than 35 countries across all continents, with highly trained and committed teams that provide personalized support. The foundation's offices play a key role and contribute to the academic and professional success of scholarship recipients. Among its functions are the following:
- Scholarship support and academic management. FUNIBER's offices are the main point of contact for scholarship recipients. They offer comprehensive support throughout their training. Office staff provides advice, guides interested parties through the application process, and informs them about the study programs available. They support scholarship students throughout the development of the academic programs and help them manage their time and clear up any questions. Staff facilitate the delivery of certificates of completion to students who need them before receiving their official degree and organize graduation ceremonies.
- Scholarships and financial aid management. The management of FUNIBER's Training Scholarship Program is another key role of the foundation's offices. Interested parties can directly contact any office seeking advice and assistance in applying for a scholarship. Each office has an evaluation committee that analyzes the applications and assigns financial aid based on the applicant's academic and professional profile and socioeconomic situation.
- Academic and institutional collaboration network. FUNIBER's offices act as development and connection centers that strengthen cooperation between universities, companies, and entities from different sectors. Its work is aimed at promoting strategic links that foster academic, scientific, and cultural exchange within the foundation's operational countries. Through these alliances, FUNIBER promotes joint participation in research, development, and innovation projects, as well as in international cooperation initiatives that contribute to educational and social progress.
- Organization of cultural activities. FUNIBER's offices also organize cultural activities with renowned artists, as well as events that enrich the experience of both students and the local community.
The International University Network
The core of the foundation's work is developed through collaboration with a network of international universities located in Europe, America, and Africa. This strategic partnership goes beyond the conclusion of agreements, creating a dynamic academic environment that promotes the exchange of knowledge, joint research, and the creation of programs with a multicultural perspective. This cooperation, built up over almost three decades, ensures that the training programs offered maintain a high level of quality and international recognition.
It should be emphasized that the network's universities are responsible for the delivery of the training and, therefore, for the academic evaluation and issuance of academic degrees. Degrees are granted and issued by the associated universities, not by the Iberoamerican University Foundation. This division of responsibilities is a strong point of the model, as it guarantees that the scholarship student will receive a degree from a recognized university, thereby ensuring the degree's validity within the corresponding regulatory framework. Academic autonomy is the hallmark of quality that underpins the training offered by each institution.
Among the main universities of FUNIBER's own network that offer academic programs granting the corresponding degrees are the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (UNEATLANTICO) in Spain, the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana de México (UNINI Mexico), the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (UNIB) in Puerto Rico, the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC) in Angola, the Fundación Universitaria Internacional de Colombia (UNINCOL), and the Universidad de La Romana (UNIROMANA) in the Dominican Republic.
FUNIBER also collaborates with a wider network of more than one hundred international universities with the common goal of developing academic, scientific, and cultural projects for the benefit of its student and teaching community.
The Scholarship Program
Social commitment is the main pillar of FUNIBER's work, which focuses on granting scholarships to students and professionals. These scholarships represent not only financial support but also an investment in the potential of each scholarship recipient after an exhaustive and fair evaluation process.
An Evaluation Committee analyzes the student's academic and professional background, as well as their socioeconomic context, thus proving the foundation's commitment to equal opportunities and eliminating economic barriers to professional development. Supporting talented professionals creates a multiplier effect, as they contribute knowledge and skills to the progress of their companies, communities, and countries.
FUNIBER's Areas of Action
Social Action
The foundation shows a tangible commitment to social progress by carrying out annual actions aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These activities include:
- PHotoFUNIBER International Competition. In collaboration with FUNIBER's Cultural Work, an artistic contest is held to invite participants to encourage creativity, appreciation of cultural diversity, and reflection on global issues through photography.
- International Pre-University Award – FUNIBER Research. It is a competition that encourages research among young people, motivating them to propose innovative solutions to contemporary social, economic, and environmental challenges.
- International Solidarity Campaign – Toy Drive. It is a solidarity initiative to support humanitarian causes within the foundation's operational countries, thus reaffirming its commitment to children by recognizing the right to play as an essential part of child development.
- Wellness. Through interviews with specialists, we seek to support reflection on the most important issues for personal and social well-being.
- Campaigns on special days. The foundation believes in the potential of information and awareness for social transformation. For this reason, it develops specific campaigns to inform, analyze, raise awareness, and sensitize on current challenges. Examples of this initiative include the study “Challenges of Teacher Training,” published on World Teachers' Day, and the “Intimate Health Campaign,” held to commemorate International Women's Day.
- Teacher Welfare Program. In collaboration with the R&D&I Projects Department, FUNIBER's Social Action Area promotes a space for care among teachers through the Digital Teacher Academy platform.
Cultural Work
FUNIBER believes that culture is a core pillar of human development and a universal language that unites people. For this reason, it develops important actions through its Cultural Work, a true cultural diplomacy at the service of society, following several lines of action:
- Travelling Art Exhibitions. The foundation brings the art of great masters to a global audience. It organizes exhibitions with works from its private collections, which include universal geniuses such as Francisco de Goya, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miró. These exhibitions tour museums and cultural centers in Spain, America, and Africa, with a careful curatorial work and the edition of high-quality catalogs.
- Music and lectures. FUNIBER encourages dialogue and intellectual enrichment, organizing concerts of famous composers and offering open conferences with speakers of great academic and business prestige. These events, open to the public, become spaces for the dissemination of knowledge and the debate of ideas.
FUNIBER Chair of Iberoamerican and Iberophonic Studies
Logic and potentiality derived from the substantive affinity between the two main Iberian languages, Spanish and Portuguese—the only major international languages that are mutually comprehensible in general terms—together with profound and numerous elements of a cultural, historical, geopolitical, and cooperative nature, are at the basis of the Multinational Space of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Countries, the so-called Pan-Iberian or Iberophone Space, which corresponds to a large extent to the sum of the Iberoamerican Community of Nations and the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries. It is a multinational grouping currently comprising almost 900 million people and around thirty countries on all continents, constituting the world's largest linguistic area and representing one-fifth of the planet's surface area, as well as the tenth largest geographically.
In recent years, concrete and verifiable steps have been taken in their articulation process, which contributes to give greater visibility and international influence to the Iberoamerican countries, to promote horizontal and triangular cooperation between the States of America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and to balance in geocultural terms—and for the benefit of the greater cultural and linguistic diversity of the entire International Community—some homogenizing aspects and cosmovisions of the ongoing globalization.
As the first worldwide university platform of Iberophone identity and Pan-Iberian vocation and projection, across all Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of all continents, the FUNIBER Chair of Iberoamerican and Iberophonic Studies is an interdisciplinary, interuniversity, intercontinental, and bilingual academic framework shared by the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (Spain), the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (UNINI Mexico), the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (UNIB Puerto Rico), the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (Angola), and the Universidad de La Romana (Dominican Republic).
The FUNIBER Chair has implemented a Master's Degree in History, Geopolitics, and Globalization of Iberoamerica and Iberophony and periodically organizes an Iberoamerican and Iberophony Forum, together with other institutions.
International Cooperation and R&D Projects
FUNIBER recognizes that knowledge acquires its maximum value when it is used to promote a real and positive change in society. Therefore, another of the foundation's areas of action is the promotion and execution of high-impact international cooperation projects. Projects are developed that implement technological and knowledge solutions in regions and territories that require support, playing a fundamental role as an engine of sustainable development.
FUNIBER's action in the execution of these projects is based on several strategic pillars:
- Multiculturalism and global presence. The foundation's presence in more than 35 countries gives it a deep understanding of local needs. This “glocal” perspective (global thinking, local action) allows FUNIBER to design culturally relevant and effective projects.
- Interdisciplinary approach. Thanks to the breadth of the University Network's areas of expertise and the experience of the teams, it addresses the challenges from an integral perspective. Technology, environment, health, education, and management are combined to create holistic and sustainable solutions.
- Strategic international collaboration. FUNIBER facilitates the connection and collaboration between governments, NGOs, companies, and universities from different countries, creating synergies that maximize the scope and effectiveness of each initiative.
- Dynamism and adaptability. FUNIBER's work processes are agile and adapt to the reaction times demanded by real environments, guaranteeing an efficient implementation of the projects.
With the support of European grants and the collaboration of associated technology and research centers, such as CITICAN in Spain or CITTECAM in Mexico, FUNIBER transforms research and development (R&D&I) into tangible solutions that drive local progress.
Publications and Scientific Dissemination
The foundation promotes the creation and dissemination of knowledge by publishing books and relevant studies in various areas of expertise. In addition, it promotes the open-access Multi-Lingual Scientific (MLS) Journals, a platform that allows researchers from all over the world to publish their (peer-reviewed) work and ensures that scientific knowledge is accessible to all, without language or economic barriers.
International Entrepreneurs and Investors Network (FIDBAN)
Through the Innovation and Development Foundation (FIDBAN), an institution promoted by FUNIBER, a dynamic international ecosystem has been established to link innovative projects with the necessary funding to make them a reality. FIDBAN, a non-profit organization, acts as a bridge between profitable entrepreneurial projects and a global network of investors.
An Ecosystem for Innovation
FIDBAN, with headquarters in Cantabria (Spain) and presence in more than 30 countries in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia, has the following objectives:
- Link opportunities. Establish connections between business plans with high profitability potential with various market players, such as business angels, family offices, venture capitalists, and corporate investors.
- Promote transparency. Create a clear and accessible environment in the private investment market.
- Promote networking. Promote the creation of a local and international investors' club to generate a solid and collaborative network of contacts.
- Offer training and consulting services. Through a digital platform, entrepreneurs receive mentoring and guidance from an advisory board composed of experts to improve the quality and viability of their projects.
- Generate global visibility. Provide projects with an international showcase, opening up investment opportunities anywhere in the world.
FIDBAN is not just a financing platform; it is a global community that fosters an entrepreneurial culture, facilitates the exchange of ideas, and provides the tools necessary for great ideas to become successful companies.
Tailor-made Training Solutions: Empowering Corporate Talent
FUNIBER recognizes that the most valuable asset of any organization is its human capital and that the job market demands continuous updating. Therefore, it offers companies and institutions training plans designed to enhance the capabilities of the teams and align with the strategic objectives of each organization.
The strategic collaboration process is developed as follows:
- Preliminary analysis of training needs. A joint diagnosis is done with the company to understand its challenges, corporate culture, and goals, thus ensuring the relevance and strategy of each training action.
- Creation of customized contents. The organization's internal knowledge is transformed into structured pedagogical material or completely new content is created and adapted to the identified training needs. In this way, training is completely adapted to the company and its personnel.
- Choice of media and methodology. The most appropriate resources are selected to achieve the proposed objectives, opting for a mixed methodology that combines the flexibility of distance learning with the effectiveness of face-to-face classes. In addition, a customized Virtual Campus is created for each company, providing a unique learning experience.
- Follow-up and updating. The commitment does not end at the conclusion of the course, as follow-up is provided to answer questions during the implementation of the knowledge acquired, and content updates are provided to ensure the continued relevance of the training in the long term.
Thanks to its global presence, the foundation is able to implement these training programs internationally, adapting the content to the local realities of its operational countries.