EECS replaces three master's programmes with two, betting on AI and scale
From autumn 2027, KTH's EECS school is consolidating its master's offering in communication, information engineering and distributed systems: three existing programmes — Communication Systems, Information and Network Engineering, and Software Engineering in Distributed Systems — will be phased out and replaced by two new ones, Information and Communication Engineering and Scalable Computing Systems.
The reform has been on ECSS’s agenda for some time, says Markus Hidell, Director of First and Second Cycle Education. "The overall goal is to have a programme offering in this area that is world-leading, with master's programmes firmly grounded in the successful research we conduct in these areas." The intent is for a portfolio more closely tied to KTH's research strengths and to fast-moving fields such as AI, digital infrastructure, communication systems, and large-scale computing.
Information and Communication Engineering
The new programme merges communication technologies, information processing and networked systems — areas Programme Director Mats Bengtsson calls foundational to Swedish industry. "It is crucial that we can keep providing highly competent engineers to maintain and strengthen this industry in Stockholm and Sweden," he says.
The relaunch is also a chance to modernise the curriculum itself. With AI tools becoming part of daily engineering work, Bengtsson says the programme will lean harder into fundamentals: "The new programme puts even more emphasis on providing solid understanding and insights."
Scalable Computing Systems
The second programme focuses on the infrastructure behind AI, cloud services and digital platforms. "The systems we rely on are being rebuilt from the ground up as we speak," says Programme Director Paris Carbone. "AI agent workloads have started to surpass human ones, and scaling to that demand means going back to fundamentals: GPUs and accelerators, massive data and stateful processing, and the limits of scalability and trustworthiness."
According to Carbone, the programme brings together research areas KTH has long led individually but never combined into a single degree: "What we lacked was a programme that brings them together."
A clearer programme portfolio
The shift is also meant to sharpen ECSS’s appeal to two groups: international students, who already show strong interest in this area, and KTH's own five-year engineering students, who Hidell says have been harder to attract. "We now hope that the new programmes will continue to increase the well-established interest among international students, as well as gain a higher level of attractiveness among our engineering students at the bachelor level."
Both programmes start in August 2027.
Read about the programmes: MSc Information and Communication Engineering & MSc Scalable Computing Systems