News
Strengthening international partnerships
HM welcomes a delegation from the South African higher education network THENSA
28/04/2026
On 24 April 2026, Hochschule München (HM) welcomed a delegation of around 20 guests from the Technological Higher Education Network South Africa (THENSA). The visit took place as part of a delegation tour organised by the Deutsche Hochschulkonsortium für Internationale Kooperationen DHIK (German university consortium for international cooperation). As an active member of the DHIK, HM was one of the key stops on the tour.
Focus on entrepreneurship, research transfer and cooperation
The day began with a visit to the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE). There, the delegation gained an insight into HM’s entrepreneurship activities and the SCE’s diverse international programmes, which connect students and start-up founders from all over the world and promote global exchange on innovation and start-up culture. Vice-President for Research Prof. Dr Sonja Munz then welcomed the guests on behalf of the university and presented HM as an application-oriented, regionally networked and internationally oriented institution. Prof. Dr Thomas Stumpp, Vice-President for Business, and Nicola Sennewald, Head of the Department of Transfer and Cooperation, then provided insights into HM’s diverse transfer structures, innovation formats and cooperation models.
Established academic links and fresh impetus
The event was also attended by numerous professors from HM who are already actively collaborating with the South African and Namibian partner universities. Among them was HM Professor Ralph Berchtenbreiter from the Department of Tourism, who is the German lead for the Tourism/Health cluster within the DHIK–THENSA Network. Their discussions with the delegation highlighted the strengthened academic ties and the shared interest in future projects. Overall, the visit served to further deepen the collaboration between THENSA and the DHIK and to launch new joint initiatives in research, teaching and entrepreneurship.
THENSA – valued partner of HM
THENSA is a network of South African and Namibian higher education institutions committed to practice-oriented teaching, applied research and social impact. Three of the member universities – the Durban University of Technology, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) – are also long-standing bilateral partners of HM. The delegation comprised members of the THENSA Board, several vice-chancellors, the heads of the six DHIK THENSA research clusters and the THENSA Managing Directors. They were particularly interested in HM’s collaboration with partners from industry and civil society, as well as its activities in the field of entrepreneurship.
Corinna Fröhling