The new Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s programme: Data Engineering and Artificial Intelligence will start in the winter semester of 2026/27. What makes this programme unique is that students have the opportunity to study at five different European universities.
Katja Hose from the Databases and Artificial Intelligence research group at the Faculty of Informatics, opens an external URL in a new window is the local programme coordinator at TU Wien and sees a lot of benefits in the newly designed Master’s programme. “Students are given the opportunity to study at a different renowned European universities and get to know multiple ones during the course of their studies. This allows them to get to know different countries and gain valuable experience abroad.”
Data Engineering and Artificial Intelligence in detail
Students spend the first semester at ULB Université Libre de Bruxelles, opens an external URL in a new window (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium, and the second semester at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, opens an external URL in a new window (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. For the third semester, students can then choose between TU Wien, Lyon 1 University, opens an external URL in a new window in France and the University of Padua, opens an external URL in a new window in Italy. In the fourth semester, students write their Master’s thesis, either at one of the universities, with one of the programme partners or at a company.
Even before it has started, the Master’s programme has attracted considerable interest. Over 3,000 applications were received for 25 full scholarships. “It was no easy task to select candidates from among the many interested applicants,” says Katja Hose. In addition to academic grades, the application essay and letters of recommendation were decisive factors in the selection process for the scholarships.
To be eligible for the Master’s programme, a completed Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a closely related field is required. As the language of instruction is English, an English language certificate at least at B2 level is required.
Katja Hose explains the high level of interest in this Master’s programme as being “due to the opportunity to gain experience abroad in multiple countries. The subject matter is also very interesting, as we cover not only AI – as many other programmes – but also the important the topic of data management, which together form a symbiosis that is often neglected.” Each university contributes its own expertise. TU Wien will a specialisation in “Knowledge-Driven Data Management and Intelligence” in the third semester. “In the specialisation, we focus on the question of how knowledge – in particular in the form of knowledge graphs – can best be exploited. We teach students how to organize, curate, and query such data efficiently as well as how AI can best make use of it, e.g., in the form of symbolic and subsymbolic AI. In the end, application domains, such as health and finance, are also important so that we do not only present plain results to users but are also able to explain them in understandable ways,” explains Katja Hose.
Vice Dean of Academic Affairs Emanuel Sallinger adds: “High quality education in both AI and data management is critical for building explainable, trustworthy and scalable AI systems. It is particularly important that participants have the opportunity to learn both symbolic AI techniques, with all their benefits for explainable AI systems, and subsymbolic AI techniques, with all their benefits in fast pattern recognition. Equally important is advanced learning in data management, ensuring that high-quality data is efficiently accessible for analytics, AI, and applications. Together, the program prepares graduates to develop principled neuro-symbolic AI systems as well as for future careers in research and industry alike.”
Summer of Code summer programme
Another distinctive feature is the Summer University and the summer internships offered between the second and third semesters. “Many universities offer practical experience such as working on projects in the form of internships is compulsory. In the Data Engineering and Artificial Intelligence programme, too, students are encouraged to use the lecture-free summer period to work as student assistants on various projects directly at the universities, partner organisations or companies,” emphasises Katja Hose.
Interested? Students can apply for the 2026/27 winter semester until 30 June 2026.