Digital knowledge that doesn't stay in the lecture hall
Bridging higher education and the real business everyday
Digital topics evolve faster than most curricula can keep up with. Universities of applied sciences face a double challenge: deliver content that doesn't stay stuck in theory, and prepare students for what actually happens in companies — in product development, marketing, and digital transformation as a whole, just as we shape it in our transformation programs for SMEs.
In particular, digital product innovation, digital marketing, and tech trends require teaching formats with real-world reference: current technologies, real market trends, honest business cases including failure stories. Whitepaper theory isn't enough. Students should leave a module knowing how to steer a digital product from concept to market launch, how to build a digital marketing strategy, how to embed AI sensibly into an existing process.
That bridge between higher education and real business is exactly what Michael Schranz has been building at FHNW since 2012 — as lecturer, lead coach, and diploma thesis supervisor.
Teaching, coaching, and practice supervision — continuously evolved
Subjects taught
From digital marketing through digital product innovation and live marketing to technology trends, app development, and HCD (human-centered design) innovation. Every area emerged from real practice rather than textbooks: what Michael tests in mandates and projects flows into the teaching shortly after — as a case, a method, or a discussion basis. That keeps the content current and immediately applicable.
Lead coaching for practice immersions
As part of HCD innovation, Michael accompanies practice immersions as lead coach: student teams analyze real challenges from business and society, develop digital solution approaches, and bring them to market-ready concepts. Methodologically at the centre: human-centered design, innovation processes, prototyping, marketing strategies, and emerging technologies — not as isolated method theory, but as applied tools under the pressure of a real project.
Custom teaching materials, continuously updated
All teaching materials, exercises, methods, and practice tasks are independently developed — and have been continuously optimized since 2012. What no longer works gets removed. What students repeatedly misunderstand gets rebuilt. What emerges from new mandates flows in. The result: material that stays current without restarting from zero each semester.
Diploma thesis supervision as external expert
Beyond the modules, Michael supervises and evaluates diploma theses as an external expert — from initial topic definition through to defence. Here too, the coaching mode applies: honest feedback, practical relevance, critical sparring rather than top-down evaluation.
What 13+ years of teaching at FHNW have created
Practical knowledge that's applicable the day after the module
Students leave each module with capabilities they can apply in companies the next day — not after a second textbook read. That's been the core of the teaching since day one.
Custom teaching materials with living substance
More than a decade of own teaching material — modular, continuously updated, sharpened through student feedback and real project cases. Not a second edition of a textbook, but a living body of work.
Innovation projects that reach real market readiness
Student teams have, in lead-coached practice immersions, developed market-ready concepts — from app ideas to innovation models that were later picked up by companies. Coaching that works beyond the classroom window.
Long-term relationships beyond the lecture
Former students reach out years after graduation for sparring, strategic advice, or joint projects — a clear signal that the teaching built trust and substance, not just credits.
Voice from FHNW
"This collaboration is characterized by extraordinary practical relevance, strong innovation capacity, and a deep commitment to student development. The combination of strategic thinking, technological competence, and inspiring knowledge transfer creates lasting value far beyond the classroom."
— Prof. Martina Dalla Vecchia, Head of MAS Programmes, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW
[Translated from the original German quote — original wording preserved in the DE locale.]