Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Program (BIP)

KU Winter School:

Management Simulation in Tourism

Group picture finale winter school management simulation 2025

Simulation and Practical Orientation

The basis for this interactive seminar is a business game with group work, which has to be run as a real business with real Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Students from different disciplines and countries work together in intercultural teams to create a business plan and marketing strategy for a fictitious hotel. The teaching units address both theoretical and practical concepts.

The course combines virtual and real-life components, in which students demonstrate their strategic thinking, time management, creativity and communication skills. The cooperation with international partners represents an added value of the module and is reflected in the intercultural knowledge transfer of the underlying student teams.

The shared experience is enriched not least by activities such as excursions, creative presentation formats and unforeseen challenges - an immersive learning journey in which the students immerse themselves and grow out of in a transformative way:

The Winter School Simulation in Ingolstadt is truly an immersive experience for students from any background. The blend of interdisciplinary design, experiential learning, and gamification supersedes conventional teaching methods, offering a unique and engaging educational experience. The practicality of the programme…

The Winter School Simulation in Ingolstadt is truly an immersive experience for students from any background. The blend of interdisciplinary design, experiential learning, and gamification supersedes conventional teaching methods, offering a unique and engaging educational experience. The practicality of the programme is somewhat adventurous, and I can’t help but think of students as ‘Alice’ being led, guided, challenged, shaped and influenced into the constructs of space and time (‘Alice-learners’ was first proposed by Mueller et al., 2015). The students are on a personal journey moving around the learning cycle and the reflective work facilitates transformative learning, something we (educators) are constantly striving for. The organisers of this should be immensely proud of what they have achieved here!

References

Mueller, S., Middleston, K., Neergaard, H., & Tunstall, R. (2015). Alice in Wonderland – An Experience Based Approach to Learning. 3E Conference. Lueneburg.

- Dinisa Kandasamy (Assistant Professor in Accounting, University of Birmingham)

Videos

To get an impression of the gameplay, check out the videos of this year's and previous games:

https://youtu.be/n_3lQWGp1S8 - Ingolstadt 2025 (long version, 5:26 minutes)
https://youtu.be/x-o9gyk-wys - Ingolstadt 2025 (short version, 1:29 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PojUI6M6Ec - Karlsruhe 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDj62mIcNSs - Karlsruhe 2016

Benefits for Students

By participating in this event, you will:

Improve your language and intercultural competence;
Learn to develop a strategy for a touristic institution in a competitive business environment using theoretical approaches;
Gain the ability to break down strategy into operational decisions and activities;
Analyze a product portfolio and competitors in the market;
Coordinate within the team and define functions within the team;
Apply operational and financial planning and information systems;
Increase your skills in crisis communication;
Develop marketing instruments (product logo, claim, advertising presence);
Present your ideas to customers and competitors;
Gain 5 ECTS credits.

The course is integrated as a Studium.Pro module in KU’s study programs and open to exchange and guest students.

The module is offered as an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Program (BIP).

Different roles

Students can participate in 3 roles (see module description):

As regular team members, students work together to develop and implement a business plan and marketing strategy for "their" hotel. Another group of students will be working as a media team, documenting the event using photography and video and advising the competing student teams regarding the development and implementation of their marketing strategy. A third group of students, the student coaches, will engage in the organziation of the winter school, organize team-building events for other participants, advise the student teams and provide assistance to guest students and guest coaches.

Erasmus+ BIP partner universities

excursion Ingolstadt Pfeifturm hotel management simulation

In the academic year 2024/25, the module is carried out with the following Erasmus+ BIP partner universities:

Comenius University Bratislava, Slovakia
Matej Bel University, Slovakia
Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia
Jagiellonian University, Poland
Università di Trento, Italy

Additional partner universities:

İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University, Turkey
University of Birmingham, UK

Management Simulation in Tourism 2025/26

Registration

KU students: via KU.Campus and a separate registration form by November 30, 2025.
Students from partner universities and guest students: Please hand in the registrationform by October 17, 2025.
The registration form will be provided in the summer of 2025.

Dates

Online part:

Virtual kick-off meeting, Online sessions, team meetings: December 2025 - February 22, 2026

On-site part:

Project week in Ingolstadt from February 23 until 27, 2026
Social program for students and coaches on February 22 and 28 (participation recommended to all participants)

Costs

No participation fee for KU students.
78 € semester fee for all other students.
Students need to provide their own room and board (location: Ingolstadt campus).
Social program (guided tours through Ingolstadt and Eichstätt and company visit, costs including transportation): 30 – 50 €.

Management Simulation in Tourism 2024/25

Dates of the winter school 2024/25

Online part:

December 5, 2024, 6:00-6:45 p.m. Virtual kick-off meeting,
January 9, 2025, 6:00-6:45 p.m. Session on creativity I by René Arvola, Adam Jezierski and Eva Wszendybył-Skulska
February 3, 2025, 6:00-6:45 p.m. Session on creativity II by Dinisa Kandasamy and Desmond Wee
February 5, 2025, 6:00-8:30 p.m. Consultation hours for student teams (20 minutes per team)
February 6, 2025, 5:00-5:45 p.m. Session on pitching by Peter Marcin

On-site part:

Project week in Ingolstadt from February 24 until 28, 2025
Social program for students and coaches on February 23 and March 1, 2025 (participation recommended to all participants)

Uniservitate Workshop "Service-learning Meets Business Education" from February 26 - 28, 2025

This year, from February 26 - 28, 2025, the winter school was also involved in an international workshop on Service Learning that we are organizing in cooperation with Uniservitate, an international project for the dissemination and promotion of service learning at Catholic universities funded by the Porticus Foundation, The focus of the program was on service learning in business and economics; however, lecturers from other subject areas were also very welcome. The workshop dealt with the state of service learning in Europe, the teaching of transversal skills through service learning and the integration of AI in service learning seminars and also included an insight into one of the action-learning-components of the winter school.

Implementation of the KU Mission Statement for Studies and Teaching

According to the KU Mission Statement for Studies and Teaching, the Management Simulation in Tourism is based on the principle of “discursive education”, in which teachers and learners shape the educational process together and interactively: No traditional teaching formats are used, but rather a mixture of short thematic inputs, self-study phases and feedback formats, supported by excursions and events as well as a mixture of on-site teaching and digital teaching-learning settings. The lecturers predominantly take on the role of coaches who support the students' self-learning process. Those students who are student coaches or part of the media team are in an intermediate role in which they are both teachers and learners.

Networking between different disciplines and nationalities is a central component of the module.

“Education tailored to the needs of the individual” is ensured by the close supervision of students by internal coaches and guest lecturers as well as further support from student coaches and the media team.

The module promotes transversal skills such as innovative thinking, intercultural competence, teamwork and communication skills and thus contributes to the development of a responsible personality. The Erasmus+ BIP format also strengthens the European idea. The format is also suitable for addressing social challenges, such as sustainability issues.

For their didactic concept, the KU staff coaches received the Award for Innovative Teaching sponsored by the Liga Bank Foundation at the Dies Academicus 2025.