Courses & research | Communication Networks

During your Master’s in Electrical Engineering, you will earn 120 EC within two years. In addition to the two compulsory courses for all master’s students in Electrical Engineering, you will take four mandatory specialisation courses to develop expertise in communication networks. You will also take elective courses to deepen your knowledge or broaden your expertise by exploring related disciplines. In your second year, you will do an internship and conduct research for your master’s thesis.

European Credit Transfer System

Study workload at Dutch universities, and in the European Union as a whole, is represented in EC, also known as ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

STRUCTURE

Year 1	Number of EC
Philosophical and societal courses For all Master’s in Electrical Engineering students.	5 EC	Perspectives on Engineering Design Philosophy of Engineering: Ethics
Mandatory specialisation courses For all students in Communication Networks.	20 EC	Performance Evaluation Internet Security Mobile and Wireless Networking In addition, one of the following courses: Advanced Networking Empirical Security Analysis and Engineering Cloud Networking Internet Measurements Ad-Hoc Networks Security Services for IoT Dependable Networking
Electives and homologation courses You can choose courses that match your interests and career ambitions. Also, you can take elective courses from other specialisations of the Master’s in Electrical Engineering, the Master’s in Computer Science, or related programmes. You will do this in consultation with your mentor.	35 EC	Suggested elective courses: Internet of Things Embedded Computer Architectures Systems Engineering Wireless Propagation Channels
Year 2	Number of EC
Internship	20 EC	In the second year, you will do an internship preparing you for the professional field.
Master’s thesis	40 EC	In the final three quarters, you will join a research group to complete your master’s thesis.
Total EC	120 EC

or meet online with a student and gain first-hand experience!

Internship

In the second year of your Master’s in Electrical Engineering, you will do an internship. That way, you can apply the knowledge and skills you have acquired during your studies at a telecommunications company, internet service provider, consulting firm, or research centre in the Netherlands or abroad. The EEMCS faculty at the University of Twente has connections with a large number of high-tech companies, research institutes, and other organisations where you can do your internship.

Previous students have done internships at:

Technology companies, such as Demcon
Telecommunications companies, such as KPN and Vodafone
Brightsight, Agentschap Telecom, Curious Inc., and other ICT consultancy companies

Master's thesis

You will complete your Master’s by writing your master’s thesis. You can conduct research within the research group Design and Analysis of Communication Systems or do an external master’s thesis at a company. For example, in a previous assignment, a student investigated models and algorithms for finding optimal routing paths that handle data without delays in large-scale communication networks. In another assignment, a student examined how to use mathematical models to assess the reliability of a communication network and handle problems when parts fail.

As part of your master’s thesis, you can undertake a research project such as:

How can Wi-Fi routers use airwaves more effectively?
What techniques can be used to transmit a large amount of sensor data from modern cars through vehicular networks?
How can queueing theory enhance the performance of communication networks, particularly in scenarios with high traffic loads and congestion?

Career perspectives