KTH Royal Institute of Technology vs Lund University

KTH Royal Institute of Technology vs Lund University — at a glance

	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Lund University
Country / City	Sweden, Stockholm	Sweden, Lund
QS World rank	#73	#75
Tuition (intl)	≈ SEK 310k/yr (non-EU)	≈ SEK 300k/yr (non-EU)
IELTS	6.5	6.5
TOEFL	90	90
GRE	Not required	Not required
Acceptance rate	35%	40%
Intl students	35%	30%
Intakes	Fall (Aug)	Fall (Aug)
Top programs	MSc Computer Science, MSc Machine Learning, MSc Data Science	MSc Data Science, MSc Finance, MSc Innovation

Which should you choose?

Choose KTH Royal Institute of Technology if you want a more selective brand name and value Engineering & Computer Science. Choose Lund University for Engineering & Business. The best choice depends on your target program, budget and post-study plans — run both through the free predictor.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology or Lund University — reading the differences

• Rank. KTH Royal Institute of Technology sits 2 places above Lund University (#73 against #75). Treat that as a coarse signal: QS rank is built largely from institution-wide research output and reputation surveys, so a gap of this size says very little about the department you would actually join, and nothing at all about teaching on your specific programme.
• Selectivity. About 35% at KTH Royal Institute of Technology against 40% at Lund University — KTH Royal Institute of Technology is the harder admission of the two. These are institution-level figures, so a competitive department inside the more accessible university can still be tighter than the headline gap suggests.
• English requirement. Both ask for IELTS 6.5, so one preparation target covers both applications and the English test is not a factor in choosing between them.
• Fees. ≈ SEK 310k/yr (non-EU) at KTH Royal Institute of Technology; ≈ SEK 300k/yr (non-EU) at Lund University. Compare these over the full length of the programme rather than per year, and check what each excludes — bench fees, materials, compulsory insurance and placement costs vary enormously by subject and are rarely in the headline number.

Both are in Sweden, so visa route, post-study work rights and living costs are broadly common to the two and drop out of the decision. That is useful: it means the choice really is about programme, department and cost, rather than about country — and those are things you can investigate directly by reading the module lists and emailing the departments.

The comparison that actually decides it. Rank, acceptance rate and fees are the numbers that are easy to publish, which is why every comparison page leads with them. The things that determine whether you finish the degree well are the specific module list, who teaches it, whether there is a placement or industry link where you want to work, and the total cost to a work permit. None of those are in a ranking table, and all of them are answerable in an afternoon by reading two programme pages and sending two emails.