I think controls are one of the most flexible and widely applicable ares of electronics, given that it's mostly about filters, transforms and stability criteria. I don't think there's any area of electronics where it isn't relevant, and if some future employer doesn't realise that, they're not someone you want to work for.
Although stability of feedback circuits is essential, I do not think a S&C masters is much about electronics. At all.
In fact, at Delft, the S&C progam is listed under mechanical engineering. I think there is very little in the way of electronics, except that it can be part of an implementation like a robot. The electronics may be your vehicle of study, but not the core study.
You
may get to the implementation of some control loop on an embedded platform of choice, e.g. uC, uP, DSP, FPGA, or a mix. But if that side of the job is the itch you want to scratch, you could as well study a program like embedded or computer engineering, or EE if you're into mixed signal and analog design as well.
At UTwente the S&C program is inside the domain of EE and CS, however, its being renamed to robotics I think.
But these master programs are not always carved into stone. I expect most programs to list a fraction of mandatory courses, and a major part electives. In my master I completed 125EC (5 more than needed), of which 40EC was grad project, 30EC was core courses, so that means about 55EC(almost 1 year) of electives. I did an embedded systems master, but took courses from EE (like analog courses preparing for IC design) up to SW (machine learning and information theory). A lot of students that are into a systems orientated master did that.
The (potential lack of) electives is one of the problems I would have with a 1year masters: a decent grad project easily takes 30-40EC(most students at my university take more time because of the academic freedoms that are fun and interesting, yet time consuming, to chase down). With 1yrs that only leaves 20-30EC of other course material, of which I expect a majority is mandatory.
But I can't be sure as I haven't read the syllabus of the Sheffield university. But I would expect most engineering masters to be 2 years.
Also, I would expect a S&C program to be about engineering systems(hej its in the name of the program). You want to dive much further beyond a standard control loop like a PID, for example, systems with multiple in/outputs, or feedforward, or make actuators that allow for haptic feedback and compliant motion that is safe to use by/around humans. It looks to me like a relatively math heavy masters that is applicable to a wide range of industries.
Sure electronics is full of feedback and feedforward systems, but my impression is that many electronics engineers just want to build something relatively quickly that works, is easy to get stable and cheap to implement. If more study is possible and necessary, then that is a field of specialization on its own (e.g. a thesis for someone else).
But that are my 2 cents
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