Nowadays, UBI is a national and international reference institution,
                                                in the
                                                spheres of education, research, innovation and
                                                entrepreneurship. 
                                            
                                                More and more concerned about quality, UBI has invested in the
                                                creation of
                                                well-equipped laboratories, in the expansion of its facilities, in
                                                the
                                                involvement in research projects of national and international
                                                scope, and in
                                                a
                                                qualified teaching staff. Two of the hallmarks of this
                                                University are
                                                the
                                                provision of laboratories in all teaching areas and teacher-student
                                                proximity
                                                education. With approximately 7000 students, this institution
                                                has now
                                                more
                                                than 29 undergraduate or master courses, about 40
                                                2nd cycle/master
                                                courses
                                                and about 25 3rd cycle/doctorate courses, distributed by its
                                                five
                                                faculties: Faculty of Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of
                                                Social
                                                Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Letters and Faculty of
                                                Health
                                                Sciences. Currently, in terms of human resources, UBI has more than
                                                600
                                                teachers
                                                and 270 employees throughout its five faculties and services. 
                                            
                                            History
                                             The first steps on the path of what is now the University of Beira
                                                Interior
                                                (UBI) were given in the 70, when the Instituto Politécnico da
                                                Covilhã (IPC)
                                                was
                                                born, in 1973. The city, once considered "The Portuguese
                                                Manchester",
                                                by its long tradition, dynamics and wool quality, was struck, in
                                                this
                                                decade, by
                                                an industrial crisis: large and small factories had begun to reveal
                                                serious
                                                weaknesses that would lead to their closure, with disastrous social
                                                and
                                                economic
                                                consequences for the region.
                                            
                                                It was in this panorama, and since the beginning of the activities
                                                of the
                                                working group for the Regional Planning of Cova da Beira, that the
                                                idea to
                                                create a higher education institution in the region came up, in
                                                order to
                                                provide
                                                their inhabitants the possibility to pursue post-secondary studies
                                                without
                                                the
                                                obligation to move to other parts of the country, most of the times
                                                forever.
                                            
                                            
                                                The UBI's statutes were revised in accordance with the Legal Regime
                                                of the
                                                Higher Education Institutions (Law 62/2007 of 10 September). One of
                                                the most
                                                interesting of UBI's physical features is the fact that the
                                                institution is
                                                the
                                                result of the recovery of ancient buildings, of great historic,
                                                cultural and
                                                architectural value. At the same time, it has been possible to
                                                preserve some
                                                historical landmarks of the city and revitalize them in spaces
                                                conceived for
                                                teaching and research.
                                            
                                                In the 90s, the University was expanded to the far north of the
                                                city, along
                                                the
                                                Ribeira da Carpinteira. In 2006, the construction of the Faculty of
                                                Health
                                                Sciences was concluded, thus fulfilling the setup program of the
                                                Medicine
                                                course
                                                infrastructures, which started functioning in 2001/2002.
                                            
                                                Currently, the UBI hosts more than 7 thousand students spread across
                                                five
                                                faculties – Arts and Letters, Sciences, Health Sciences, Social and
                                                Human
                                                Sciences, Engineering – with a formative offer adequate to Bologna,
                                                as well
                                                as
                                                laboratory and research structures to support the teaching process
                                                and with
                                                strong links to society and to the business world.
                                            Faculty of Arts and Letters
                                             Created in 2000, the Faculty of Arts and Letters is located in the
                                                former
                                                premises of the "Real Fábrica de Panos", founded by the Marquis of
                                                Pombal in
                                                1764. Born of an original concept in the Portuguese Academy of that
                                                time, it
                                                encompasses traditional areas of Letters, Philosophy, Design, Cinema
                                                and
                                                Communication Sciences, as well as its strands of> Journalism,
                                                Advertising
                                                and
                                                Public Relations.
                                            
                                                - Department of Communication and Arts
- Department of Letters