Overview
In this unit, you will further develop your professional engineering skills necessary to practice as a graduate engineer in Australia. You will learn Engineers Australia's prescribed competency standards, codes of practice and ethics, and the roles and responsibilities of a professional engineer. You will apply your knowledge to conceive, develop and deliver sustainable solutions to complex engineering problems, autonomously and as part of a team. You will use advanced search methods to retrieve and critically assess scientific and technical information and apply it to synthesise the conduct and management of engineering projects. You will develop your communication skills, including technical writing and presentations based on effective research, paraphrasing, referencing, and reviewing published information. As a small team, you will prepare a scope for an investigation to demonstrate an understanding of the tasks involved in an Australian engineering feasibility investigation. You will enhance your awareness of ways to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and First Nation perspective in engineering practice. You will apply your engineering knowledge and skills to enhance welfare, health, and safety, with the minimal use of natural resources and paying attention to the environment and the sustainability of the resources.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from HoC-PG feedback
The student experience could be further improved to achieve a higher satisfaction score.
It is recommended that the content should be improved by increasing hands-on learning activities, strengthening the alignment between assessments and real-world applications, and providing clearer assessment guidance and more timely formative feedback.
Feedback from SUTE
The tutorial sessions should be enhanced to be more interactive and engaging for students.
It is recommended that tutorial classes should incorporate interactive activities, such as group discussions, problem-solving exercises, and real-world case studies, to actively engage students and enhance learning outcomes.
- Reflect on the roles, responsibilities and attributes of a professional engineer
- Develop sustainable solutions to complex engineering problems from socio-technical and environmental perspectives
- Retrieve and manage technical information and critically assess its accuracy, reliability and authenticity
- Apply systematic approaches to the conduct and management of engineering projects autonomously and as part of multidisciplinary and multicultural teams
- Develop high quality engineering reports using different communication media and share them verbally and in written form
- Demonstrate ethical practice, accountability, and a commitment to lifelong learning, with specific reference to the Engineers Australia Code of Ethics
- Integrate First Nation knowledge, culture, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into engineering practice.
Learning Outcomes for this unit are linked with the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standards for Professional Engineers in the areas of 1. Knowledge and Skills Base, 2. Engineering Application Ability and 3. Professional and Personal Attributes at the following levels:
Intermediate
1.4 Discernment of knowledge development and research directions within the engineering discipline. (LO: 2I)
1.5 Knowledge of engineering design practice and contextual factors impacting the engineering discipline. (LO: 2I)
1.6 Understanding of the scope, principles, norms, accountabilities and bounds of sustainable engineering practice in the specific discipline. (LO: 1I 6I)
2.1 Application of established engineering methods to complex engineering problem solving. (LO: 2I 3I)
2.2 Fluent application of engineering techniques, tools and resources. (LO: 3I 4I)2.4 Application of systematic approaches to the conduct and management of engineering projects. (LO: 2I 4I)
3.1 Ethical conduct and professional accountability. (LO: 1I 6I)
3.2 Effective oral and written communication in professional and lay domains. (LO: 5I )
3.3 Creative, innovative and proactive demeanour. (LO: 2I)
3.4 Professional use and management of information. (LO: 3I 5I)
3.5 Orderly management of self and professional conduct. (LO: 6I)
3.6 Effective team membership and team leadership. (LO: 4I)
Advanced
1.3 In-depth understanding of specialist bodies of knowledge within the engineering discipline. (LO: 2A 4I)
Note: LO refers to the Learning Outcome number(s) that link to the competency and the levels: N – Introductory, I – Intermediate and A – Advanced.
Refer to the Engineering Postgraduate Units Moodle site for further information on Engineers Australia's Stage 1 Competency Standard for Professional Engineers and course-level mapping information https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=11382
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||||||
| 3 - Presentation - 20% | |||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||||
| 4 - Research | |||||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||||
| 8 - First Nations Knowledges | |||||||
| 9 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
a.k.azad@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 13 Jul 2026Module/Topic
Fundamentals of Engineering Practice. Competencies, Skills & attributes.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
- Unit structure and assessment details.
- Skills and SWOT Audit.
- Introduction to Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies.
- Introduction to Assessment 1.
Week 2
Begin Date: 20 Jul 2026Module/Topic
Engineer's Code of Ethics.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
Guest speaker on academic integrity.
- Understanding Academic Integrity.
- Case studies on academic integrity.
- Engineers Australia Code of Ethics.
- Introduction to Assessment 1.
Week 3
Begin Date: 27 Jul 2026Module/Topic
Information literacy - retrieval, analysis, storage, and sharing.
- Australian standard.
- Literature surveys.
- Databases.
- Academic search engines.
Chapter
- Lecture notes.
- CQU library resource.
- Additional resources will be available in MOODLE.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
- ALC will run a session on academic writing
- Introduction to reference management software (EndNote).
- Harvard referencing.
- Understanding Turnitin and how to avoid academic integrity issues (i.e., plagiarism or using Chat GPT responsibly).
- Note-taking, paraphrasing, and understanding academic journal articles.
Week 4
Begin Date: 03 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Introduction to Team Project-Project Scope Development.
Chapter
- Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
Exercises in project scope development
- Aims and objectives.
- Introduction, including the problem statement, significance of the project, a brief literature review, and research questions.
- Inclusions and exclusions.
- Assumptions.
- Expected outcomes.
- Project deliverables
Self-Assessment Due: Week 4 Friday (7 Aug 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 5
Begin Date: 10 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Engineering communication, teams, and collaboration.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
Introduction to Assessment 2
Team formation.
Team charter development.
Week 6
Begin Date: 17 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Engineering project management.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
ALC will run a session
Time management.
Project scheduling (Gantt chart).
Use of MS Project software.
Introduction to Assessment 2.
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 24 Aug 2026Module/Topic
No classes or workshops are scheduled during vacation week.
Chapter
NA
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Week 7
Begin Date: 31 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Engineering problem-solving and stakeholder engagement.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
Exercise engineering problem-solving.
How to develop a project methodology.
Stakeholder identification and management in an engineering project context.
Progress on Assessment 2.
Team Presentation Due: Week 7 Friday (4 Sept 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 8
Begin Date: 07 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Technical skills.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
- Use of MS Excel in engineering.
- Use of different Excel commands.
- Different forms of graphs using Excel.
- Progress on Assessment 2.
Week 9
Begin Date: 14 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Workplace health and safety, risk analysis, and risk management.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
Exercises on
- ALC will run a session
- List out team project risks and risk management.
- How to present professionally.
- Progress on Assessment 2.
- Introduction to Assessment 3.
Week 10
Begin Date: 21 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Sustainability & community engagement.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop –
Practice on
- Sustainability in team projects.
- Alignment of UNSDGs in team projects.
- How to engage with the community.
- Progress on Assessment 2 and Assessment 3.
Week 11
Begin Date: 28 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshops –
- Exercises on WIL and CPD.
- Progress on Assessment 3.
Week 12
Begin Date: 05 Oct 2026Module/Topic
Review of the term.
Chapter
Lecture notes.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop -
- Review contents
Team project report Due: Week 12 Friday (9 Oct 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Exam Week
Begin Date: 12 Oct 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation/Exam Week
Begin Date: 19 Oct 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
This assessment is an individual submission comprising two parts. In Part A, students are required to conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis based on their current status as engineering graduates. In Part B, students are required to summarise the Engineers Australia Code of Ethics and critically discuss its importance to engineering practice, both within Australia and internationally.
Part A Requirements
- Access the Engineers Australia website and download the Stage 1 Competency Standard for Professional Engineers document. Read and understand the document in detail.
Conduct a personal SWOT analysis. - Map your current skills and competencies against the Engineers Australia Stage 1 competency descriptors.
- Reflect on your journey as an engineering graduate, including your career aspirations, reasons for enrolling in this course, and intended sub-discipline of specialisation with justification.
- Critically evaluate your current professional standing and identify areas requiring further development to achieve your career objectives.
- The word limit for Part A is 1500 words (±10%).
Part B Requirements
- Download and review the Engineers Australia Code of Ethics document.
- Based on the Code of Ethics, discuss its importance to engineering practice in both national and global contexts (approximately 200 words ±10%).
- Select one of the four ethical principles and write an essay (900 words ±10%) providing your personal reflection on the chosen principle. This must include a relevant example from your professional or academic experience demonstrating how you have applied or upheld this principle.
- All sources, including third-party text, figures, and tables, must be accurately referenced using the CQU Harvard referencing style.
Submission Requirements
The assignment must be submitted via the Moodle submission link in MS Word format (.docx) or PDF.
The file name must follow the format: FirstName_UnitCode_AssessmentNumber.docx
Example: Name_ENEG28001_A1.docx
Details of marking rubrics and criteria are available in MOODLE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO OPPORTUNITY TO RESUBMIT OR REDO THIS ASSESSMENT.
Information:
Students are required to submit all assessments by the specified due dates. Late submissions will not be accepted, in accordance with professional practice expectations.
If an extension is required, a formal request must be submitted to the Unit Coordinator at least 72 hours prior to the assessment due date, unless otherwise specified in the assessment requirements. Extension requests submitted after the due date may not be considered.
As outlined in Section 5.16 of the Assessment Policy, extensions may be granted for valid reasons, including, but not limited to, disability, medical or health-related conditions, hardship (e.g., serious accidents), or compassionate circumstances (e.g., death of a family member). Appropriate supporting evidence must be provided with all requests.
Late Submission Penalty:
In accordance with Section 5.42 of the University Assessment Policy, a penalty of 5% of the total achieved marks for the assessment will be deducted per calendar day (or part thereof) that the submission is late. This penalty will be applied as a negative mark deduction from the overall assessment score, based on the submission timestamp.
AI ASSESSMENT SCALE - AI PLANNING
You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Week 4 Friday (7 Aug 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
As per the CQU policy, 5% marks will be deducted for each day of delayed submission without prior approval.
Week 6 Friday (21 Aug 2026)
It is expected that the assessment item will be returned in 2 weeks after the due date (Excl. vacation week).
Detailed assessment criteria will be available on the course website. The marking rubric outlines the indicators of attainment for each assessment component across the performance levels of Needs Improvement, Satisfactory, Good, Very Good, and Excellent.
- Reflect on the roles, responsibilities and attributes of a professional engineer
- Demonstrate ethical practice, accountability, and a commitment to lifelong learning, with specific reference to the Engineers Australia Code of Ethics
2 Written Assessment
This assessment is a team-based submission, and only one report per team is required. Students must form teams of 4 to 5 members (this may vary depending on enrolment numbers).
For this team project, each team is required to decide on a suitable topic. Teams will utilise discipline-relevant software tools to develop and analyse their project. For example, Hybrid Optimisation of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software may be used by electrical and mechanical engineering students to support project development and analysis.
Each team is expected to define a clear project scope, undertake the required analysis, and submit a comprehensive final project report at the end of the term. Project tasks must be distributed equitably among team members, or a mutually agreed contribution percentage must be documented in the team charter.
Individual grades will be derived from the overall team performance and adjusted based on documented individual contributions. A student’s final mark may exceed the team average; however, it will be capped at the maximum mark allocated for the assessment.
A team contribution table must be included in the Final Project Report. Submissions without this team charter will not be assessed.
Assessment Structure
Following feedback from the presentation and scope submission, teams will complete the final project report. The report should include, but is not limited to:
- Introduction (problem statement, significance, literature review, and research questions)
- Aims and objectives
- Materials and methods
- Results and discussion
- Conclusions and recommendations
- Risk assessment
- Self and peer evaluation
- Team contribution table
- Gantt chart
This Assessment carries a 60% mark; the minimum mark to pass is 50%.
Information:
Students are required to submit all assessments by the specified due dates. Late submissions will not be accepted, in accordance with professional practice expectations.
If an extension is required, a formal request must be submitted to the Unit Coordinator at least 72 hours prior to the assessment due date, unless otherwise specified in the assessment requirements. Extension requests submitted after the due date may not be considered.
As outlined in Section 5.16 of the Assessment Policy, extensions may be granted for valid reasons, including, but not limited to, disability, medical or health-related conditions, hardship (e.g., serious accidents), or compassionate circumstances (e.g., death of a family member). Appropriate supporting evidence must be provided with all requests.
Late Submission Penalty:
In accordance with Section 5.42 of the University Assessment Policy, a penalty of 5% of the total achieved marks for the assessment will be deducted per calendar day (or part thereof) that the submission is late. This penalty will be applied as a negative mark deduction from the overall assessment score, based on the submission timestamp.
AI ASSESSMENT SCALE - AI PLANNING
You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Week 12 Friday (9 Oct 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Only one report from each Team should be submitted via the Moodle submission link.
Vacation/Exam Week Friday (23 Oct 2026)
The marks will be disclosed on the day of Certification of Grades
Moodle contains a marking rubric/criteria that includes indicators of attainment at "Sound", "Good", and "Excellent" levels for each element of the assessment.
The calculation of an individual team member's mark is as follows:
Team A received 25 marks (out of 40) for their team project work (Part 2). The individual contributions of 3 students in Team A are: Student 1 = 33%, Student 2 = 35%, and Student 3 = 32% (total = 33 + 35 + 32 = 100%). Average team contribution = 100/3 = 33.33%.
Thus, the individual marks will be calculated as follows:
Student 1 = 25 x (33/33.33) = 24.75 (out of 40)
Student 2 = 25 x (35/33.33) = 26.25 (out of 40)
Student 3 = 25 x (32/33.33) = 24.00 (out of 40)
Details are illustrated in the marking rubrics and criteria available in MOODLE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO OPPORTUNITY TO RESUBMIT OR REDO THIS ASSESSMENT.
- Develop sustainable solutions to complex engineering problems from socio-technical and environmental perspectives
- Retrieve and manage technical information and critically assess its accuracy, reliability and authenticity
- Apply systematic approaches to the conduct and management of engineering projects autonomously and as part of multidisciplinary and multicultural teams
- Develop high quality engineering reports using different communication media and share them verbally and in written form
- Demonstrate ethical practice, accountability, and a commitment to lifelong learning, with specific reference to the Engineers Australia Code of Ethics
- Integrate First Nation knowledge, culture, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into engineering practice.
3 Presentation
This is a team-based recorded presentation. Each team is required to present their project execution plan and expected outcomes. All team members must actively participate in the presentation.
The total presentation duration is 15 minutes per team, delivered orally using PowerPoint (PPT) slides. Teams are required to prepare their slides using the official template provided on Moodle. The entire team must present collectively within the allocated time. Separate individual recordings will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Participation by all team members is compulsory. Any student who does not attend and contribute to the presentation will receive a failing grade for this assessment component.
Submission Requirements
The presentation must be submitted via the Moodle submission link in video recording format.
The file name must follow the format: TeamName_UnitCode_AssessmentNumber
Example: TeamA_ENEG28001_A2_Recording
PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO APPLY FOR A POSTPONEMENT OR EXTENSION FOR THIS ASSESSMENT. ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO OPPORTUNITY TO RESUBMIT OR REDO THIS ASSESSMENT.
Note: This assessment is exempt from the 72-hour submission grace period and must be completed by the stated submission date and time.
AI ASSESSMENT SCALE - AI PLANNING
You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Week 7 Friday (4 Sept 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Must be submitted by or before the deadline via Moodle Link.
Week 9 Friday (18 Sept 2026)
The marks will be disclosed within two weeks after due date.
Refer to the Moodle that contains marking rubrics/criteria.
- Apply systematic approaches to the conduct and management of engineering projects autonomously and as part of multidisciplinary and multicultural teams
- Develop high quality engineering reports using different communication media and share them verbally and in written form
- Integrate First Nation knowledge, culture, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into engineering practice.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
