TH Aschaffenburg is a new member of the European academic network Dukenet

The event of the European academic network Dukenet in June brought together delegates from almost 20 European universities and featured strategic discussions on international short-term programmes such as ERASMUS Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs), marketing simulations, gamified cross-cultural initiatives, and the development of new EU-funded projects. These exchanges were framed by a shared commitment to advancing cross-cultural collaboration, intercultural competence development and innovation across member institutions.

Dukenet is a prominent European network comprising universities that offer programmes in business studies and marketing. With a current membership of almost 20 institutions across 15 countries, Dukenet has facilitated over 50 international teaching and innovation projects, benefiting more than 2,000 students to date.

Founded in 1996 in Northern Europe, Dukenet began as a consortium of universities seeking to share expertise in business and marketing education. Since then, it has initiated numerous research and teaching projects, with a particular focus on intercultural competence development and collaborative learning across cultures and also served as a platform for broader forms of collaboration among its members. 

At this year’s meeting in Varna, TH Aschaffenburg was officially welcomed as a new member of Dukenet. This marks officially opening of the door for TH Aschaffenburg to participate as formal Dukenet member university in ongoing and future collaborative projects and initiatives such as:

• European joint Master's programmes, such as MERCURI (here TH Aschaffenburg has been a founding consortium member), EMBS and MAGELLAN
• Erasmus Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs) such as the Marketing Simulation and BrandY Game
• Collaborative research and mobility initiatives across Europe

Professor Dr. Alexandra Angress, Faculty of Economics and Law, serves as TH Aschaffenburg’s representative within the Dukenet network. She has long collaborated with colleagues from across the consortium on various programme and project initiatives such as the design and delivery of a European Master degree programme Marketing and Customer Relationship Management MERCURI. This MA programme enables students to study in four different countries, earning degrees from each participating institution. This year, the MERCURI Master’s programme celebrates its fifth anniversary welcoming a sixth cohort of ca. 25 students from across the globe in October 2025.

Another flagship initiative within the Dukenet portfolio is the Marketing Simulation Game, a short-term programme typically hosted twice annually by different network partners. The most recent edition, held at CEU Cardenal Herrera University in Valencia, brought together over 140 students from more than 8 participating partner universities (among them 10 students of Aschaffenburg UAS) and offered students a valuable opportunity to gain relevant international experience. Participants were organised into multinational teams and learned to apply their classroom knowledge to competitive, simulated business and marketing scenarios and practiced their intercultural communication, teamwork, leadership, and decision-making skills. 

The following universities are active members of Dukenet:

• Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen (Belgium)
• University of Economics in Varna (Bulgaria)
• Université de Savoie Mont Blanc (France)
• Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (Finland) (founding member)
• Universität Kassel (Germany)
• Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Germany)
• TH Aschaffenburg (Germany)
• Budapest Business School (Hungary)
• University of Debrecen (Hungary)
• Università di Trento (Italy)
• Avans Hogeschool (Netherlands) (founding member)
• University of Economics in Katowice (Poland)
• University of Bucharest (Romania)
• University of Economics  in Bratislava (Slovakia)
• Universidad de Leon (Spain)
• Universidad Cardenal Herrera Valencia (Spain)
• Haute Ecole de géstion de Genève (Switzerland)

The annual meeting in Varna also marked the handing over to a newly elected leadership team from across three member universities with Dukenet planning to continue and expand its international competence development portfolio for students and staff. 

For the academic year 2025/26 the following initiatives were identified to be organized by members of Dukenet: the “BrandY Game” (hosted by the Université de Savoie Mont Blanc, France) and the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive “Programme Prominence - Practising Cultural Intelligence Across Cultures”  (Bratislava Slovakia). Aschaffenburg UAS was one of the founding members of this former EU strategic partnership project. In spring 2026 the “Marketing Simulation” and the ERASMUS BIP “Campus of the Future goes Sustainability Challenge” will be held in Varna, Bulgaria. 

A new intensive programme entitled “Start your business using AI and low-code” will be made available to students of Dukenet members hosted by the University of Economics in Kattowice and Howest, Belgium where students will be working in international, interdisciplinary teams and create their own start up. 

These initiatives can play a vital role in strengthening the internationalisation strategies of member institutions while fostering innovation, digitalisation and the development of key transversal skills – such as cultural intelligence, communication and organisiation skills and the ability to work well in diverse teams and contexts.  

Contact: Prof. Dr. Alexandra Angress, alexandra.angress(at)th-ab.de, TH Aschaffenburg Dukenet Ambassador 

Further informationen at: Dukenet Network – Together and internationally!