Case Study: KTH Royal Institute of Technology boosts retention and turns students into engineers with MathWorks (MATLAB & Simulink)

KTH Royal Institute of Technology’s CDIO Program Improves Retention Rates and Turns Students into Engineers

KTH Royal Institute of Technology faced the twin challenges of recruiting and retaining engineering students and shifting faculty toward a student‑centered, career‑focused learning model. To prepare graduates for real engineering work, KTH needed to give students access to the professional tools used in industry—so it partnered with MathWorks to incorporate MATLAB and Simulink into its CDIO (conceive, design, implement, operate) program.

MathWorks helped KTH integrate MATLAB, Simulink, and related products across the curriculum—from first‑year MATLAB basics through advanced mechatronics courses using Simulink, Stateflow, Embedded Coder, and Simscape Multibody, plus industry‑linked capstone projects. The result: graduates with practical, in‑demand skills, a 94% employment rate within a year, increased applications, virtually zero withdrawals in mechatronics, and hundreds of industry collaboration projects completed.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Mats Hanson

Professor