Local value creation and production models, models of regional circular economy do not only represent a sustainable alternative to linear-oriented economies. Still, they can also help rural regions to become self-sufficient and attractive (BMEL 2019). Regional networks are seen as essential for establishing structures for a circular economy on a regional level. The specific arising challenges, especially on a regional level, regarding problem-solving and control capabilities of networks have been only partially addressed in research. Network Consultancy is an element of control practice within inter-organizational network structures. Therefore, network consultancy plays a unique role in promoting and long-term establishment of cooperative networks. Here, organizational education, as a young sub-discipline of educational science, focusing on learning in, from, and between organizations and networks, offers excellent potential for providing knowledge and practical methods for consultancy processes (Heidelmann/Klös 2022/forthcoming). Therefore, the article presents a new form of university teaching in which a radical interweaving of theory and practice (Heidelmann 2022/forthcoming) connecting the professionalization of students and regional practitioners becomes the object of an organizational educational professionalization, as well as a collective innovation learning between university and region (Klös 2022/forthcoming). The presented professionalization program ‘Learning to shape Sustainable Futures’ trains master students for organizational educational network consulting and development. The didactic approach of future- and innovation-learning enables student participants to organize, moderate and accompany regionally networked future- and innovation laboratories between university and region as multipliers and process consultants (Weber/Heidelmann 2019). At the same time, a regional network consultancy process, with the goal to develop and establish a regional circular economy (Weber/Heidelmann/Klös 2020), is realized. For this, systematically heterogeneous regional stakeholders from all societal relevant sectors participated within the process. One part of this paper sheds light on how participating regional stakeholders as consultancy addressees perceived the one-year organizational education-induced network consulting process and the interaction in the emerging space between university and region. The other part explores how participating students as prospective network consultants shaped this process as a simultaneous professionalization and consulting process (Heidelmann 2022/forthcoming). To this end, the analysis results of longitudinal image- and metaphor-based interviews with both students and stakeholders will be presented. The findings will show the challenges and potentials of a new innovative way of university teaching and consultancy induced innovation- and network learning, for the convergence of parallel and contradictory worlds.

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