AVANS 23 Maxi

Development of a Second-Cycle MSc Programme

This project website is dedicated to the development of a new Master's Programme in Computer Science - XR and Intelligent Interactive Systems, 120 credits, at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), funded partly by the Knowledge Foundation and the Department of Computer Science (DIDA).

The resulting MSc education program can be found here.

Application opens at 2026-10-16, start of studies in Autumn 2027.

Background

The game development sector is a growing and driving industry. It creates and tests new technologies used in many other areas and industries. Therefore, a degree in game engineering is also attractive in many industries where performance is important outside the gaming world. Digitalisation is also part of everyone's life, and over the last decade, we have seen technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR) develop. Furthermore, there have been extensive developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

These two trends will have a huge impact on the digital societies of the future, and the vision of an immersive, present and intelligent virtual environment opens up new opportunities to create an enhanced digital world where users are at the centre of so-called intelligent realities (IRs). In these environments, game technologies and innovative immersive interactive systems will play a significant role.

The proposed AVANS 23 project aims to develop a new two-year master's programme in game technology and interactive systems to complement the current Master of Engineering programme in Game Engineering at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), which was recently reworked into a 3+2 model. BTH aims to be the leading Swedish node with a high impact internationally in intelligent realities, with humans at the centre of the next generation of digital societies, including innovative games and interaction environments.

The programme development project is in the middle of BTH's strategy towards digitalisation and building focused and complete environments based on strong academic programmes, research expertise and co-production with external partners. The team involved in the project has a strong combination of competencies and experience in games and interactive systems, and the project has clearly formulated plans for project management, collaboration, and future subject relevance.

Related education research publications in the HINTS environment

• Majed Elwardy and Miram Ali, Operationalizing XR-MOT: A Workflow for Designing Extended Reality Learning Experiences, The 1st International Workshop on Teaching XR, at ISMAR 2026.
• Yan Hu and Gauri Vinsha Singh, Teaching Advanced XR Development in the Vibe Coding Era, The 1st International Workshop on Teaching XR, at ISMAR 2026.
• Prashant Goswami and Nan Huang, “A Project-Based Approach to Teaching Game Engine Architecture Course”, Eurographics Education Paper, 2026.
• Yan Hu, Veronica Sundstedt, Prashant Goswami, A Research Methodology Course in a Game Development Curriculum, Eurographics 2024 – Education Papers, 2024. https://doi.org/10.2312/eged.20241006.