How Our Blended Intensive Programme Tackled a Real Challenge for the National Film Museum in Prague

Students from four partner universities took on a real Design Thinking challenge for the National Film Museum in Prague, rethinking how international Gen Z visitors connect with cultural institutions before, during, and after their visit.

Prague offers an extraordinary breadth of cultural experiences. For international visitors, the wide range of options – from centuries-old landmarks to immersive interactive attractions – makes the decision of where to go far from straightforward. For cultural institutions, this competitive landscape raises a pressing question: how do you not only attract a new generation of visitors, but also build a relationship that outlasts a single afternoon?

International Gen Z visitors are a particularly dynamic and demanding audience. They expect interactivity, clear value, digital accessibility, and emotionally resonant experiences. In an urban environment as rich as Prague, cultural institutions must work harder – and smarter – to become part of a visitor’s ongoing story.

This is precisely the challenge at the heart of our most recent Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) Design Anthropology in Business Practice organized by Dr. Karolina Kania from the Department of Strategy and developed in collaboration with the National Film Museum in Prague (NaFilM). The museum, dedicated to film literacy and Czech cinema, served as the real-world client for an international student design thinking challenge.

The BIP, brought together 35 students in international, mixed teams from four universities:

🇨🇿 Prague University of Economics and Business (VŠE), Czech Republic

🇧🇬 Burgas State University Prof. dr. Assen Zlatarov, Bulgaria

🇵🇱 University of Silesia (UŚ), Poland

🇵🇹 University of Madeira, Portugal

Students were asked to examine the full visitor journey of an international Gen Z visitor to NaFilM, not just what happens inside the museum, but what leads someone there in the first place, and what happens after they leave.

The Design Thinking challenge was focused on the following question:

How might we extend the experience beyond the physical visit, transforming a one-time visit into a meaningful and lasting connection?

Using a design thinking user-centric framework, teams analyzed NaFilM’s digital presence, ie, its website and social media, through the eyes of international visitors, experienced the museum in person, and identified moments of curiosity, friction, and potential. The final task: develop creative, research-based concepts that strengthen NaFilM’s long-term relationship with Gen Z audiences.

The program ran in two phases. Over six weeks of online workshops, students built shared frameworks, conducted desk research, and explored visitor decision-making through contextual in-depth interviews. Then, from 18 to 22 May, all participants came together in Prague for the on-site intensive: visiting NaFilM as researchers and users, designing their concepts, and presenting final solutions to the museum. Between sessions, they had the opportunity to explore Prague, turning the city itself into part of the learning experience.

Nine solutions for NaFilM

The teams developed nine distinct, targeted concepts addressing different dimensions of the post-visit engagement challenge. Together, they covered the full spectrum – from redesigned digital presence and social media strategy to loyalty apps, personalized storytelling, and interactive in-museum experiences.

For NaFilM, the collaboration offered a fresh, research-grounded perspective on a generation of visitors it wants to reach. For the students, as their own words make clear, working in international teams for a real client was the most valuable aspect of this program.

Dorota Bartnicka, University of Silesia

What I liked the most was going through all stages of the Design Thinking process – from understanding user needs, through creating ideas, to preparing a final solution for the client. This helped us not only learn the theory but also apply it in practice. Teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, and thinking from the user’s perspective are very important skills that are hard to learn only from books. This project gave us real experience,

Catarina Pereira, University of Madeira

The most valuable aspect of the BIP was the fact that we worked with a real-life organization trying to solve a real problem – and that will definitely make me a better professional. Working with students from different countries was amazing; I made new friends and will keep in touch with them.

Martina Strelecková, Prague University of Economics and Business

I enjoyed the fact that we were working on a project for an existing and real brand – not something we had to imagine. It felt like a small cultural exchange. Working with students from other countries and from different backgrounds was enriching not only culturally, but also socially. It was interesting to see how different backgrounds shape our assumptions and working styles.

And for the universities involved, this BIP reinforced what makes cross-border partnerships worth the coordination, especially when those partnerships are long-term. The University of Silesia and the University of Burgas are returning collaborators, with ties that go beyond institutional agreements. The link with the University of Madeira was made last year during an Erasmus+ visit to Funchal, and is already bearing fruit.

Projects like this BIP represent what experiential, international education can be at its best. Students don’t work on invented case studies. They engage with real institutions, real constraints, and real audiences. They collaborate across cultural and linguistic differences, navigate the challenges of intercultural team dynamics, and deliver work that has real value for a partner organization. In return, they leave with something no textbook assignment can provide: the confidence that comes from having solved a real problem together.

Blended Intensive Programme ft. the National Film Museum in Prague