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Overview

Course Prescription

An introduction to the commercial drivers and business practices which prepare students for successful roles in the commercial, government and non-profit sectors after graduation. Students are presented with a systems-thinking approach to managing large, complex, multidisciplinary challenges. Professional issues (such as health and safety, sustainability, resilience, ethics, leadership, and cultural diversity) from previous courses are expanded.

Course Overview

This course centres on Systems Thinking, integrating Engineering knowledge with important theories, practices, and frameworks from economics, environment, social responsibility, sustainability, and governance. Building upon other ENGGEN courses, it introduces key concepts important to merge Engineering knowledge and skills with other disciplines to solve complex problems, create value, and improve society.  Using case studies, individual assessments, and group projects, ENGGEN 403 applies engineering discipline knowledge and learnings from the course prerequisites to consider, understand, and develop complex solutions, improvements, interventions, and innovations to large-scale systems-level challenges, with a particular focus on the problems of sufficient scale to attract government attention. Building upon Innovation principles developed in ENGGEN 303, students work with key systems concepts such as GDP, productivity, cost-benefit analyses, causal loops, leverage points, the New Zealand Living Standards framework, and machinery of government, applying these to major group projects tackling complex problems.

ENGGEN 403 helps to equip students with the complementary knowledge and skills important to apply Engineering computational, foundational and problem-solving approaches to prepare them for the workplace, government, and decision-making roles and responsibilities. The course meets the criteria set forth by Engineering NZ and the International Engineering Alliance, qualifying graduates to tackle major projects across the globe. Further, it delivers important attributes necessary to prepare graduates to take on key roles in contemporary firms and organisations, offering the platform for students to develop as innovators, managers, policymakers, and leaders. 

Building upon collaboration and communication foundations, the course integrates success mindsets, management tools, operations research, and organisational theory in practical and applied contexts to support students' ability to identify and understand large-scale wicked problems. Working at systems scale, students identify multifaceted root causes to wicked problems, consider a complex range of stakeholders, analyse alternatives, synthesise solutions, measure impact, and make comprehensive multidimensional recommendations seeking to address these challenges.

The course culminates in Systems Week - a focused week-long intensive team project in which students are given a major real world problem to research, analyse, synthesise, and develop appropriate recommendations. Systems Week teams offer the opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration, providing a capstone experience that builds resilience, integrating learnings from across Engineering degree programmes, discipline knowledge, Part IV research skills and industry internships.

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15-point course, and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15-point course that they are enrolled in.

This course is scheduled over 12 weeks. Most weeks, there are 3 one-hour lectures. It is expected that the student spends approximately 3 hours a week reading and thinking about the content. In week 9 of the course, students will participate in a full-week immersive consulting-style project in which students collaborate with a large team to understand, review, consider, and synthesise a large-scale "wicked problem" to develop a senior-level recommendation and report. During this week, other taught Engineering papers are cancelled to allow students to spend about 40 hours (8 am - 5 pm) working on this important project that brings together discipline, systems, and professional practice knowledge, skills and mindset.  

Course Prerequisites, Corequisites and Restrictions

Prerequisite

Locations and Semesters Offered

LocationSemester
City

Teaching and Learning

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at scheduled and some ad hoc activities including lectures, team meetings, and online collaboration platforms to complete components of the course.

Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities will not be available as recordings.

The course may include live online events including lectures, help sessions, group discussions and workshops.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Taught courses use a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas to provide students with learning materials including reading lists and lecture recordings (where available). Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Copyright

The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license. You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third-party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.

Health and Safety

Students are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with University health and safety guidelines at all times during the course and to be respectful and inclusive in all coursework and activities.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Similarly, research students must meet the University’s expectations of good research practice. This requires:

  • Honesty - in all aspects of research work
  • Accountability - in the conduct of research
  • Professional courtesy and fairness – in working with others
  • Good stewardship – on behalf of others
  • Transparency – of research process and presentation of results
  • Clarity - communication to be understandable, explainable and accessible

For more information on the University’s expectations of academic integrity, please see the Academic Conduct section of the University policy hub.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about taught courses is made available to enrolled students in Canvas.

Students may be asked to submit assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.


Assessment and Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes

CLO #OutcomeProgramme Capability Link
1
2
3
4
5

Assessments

Assessment TypeAssessment PercentageAssessment Classification

Additional Information on Assessment

A passing mark is 50% or higher, according to University policy.

All assessments are due by the submission time listed on Canvas.

Late assessments will not be accepted. Extensions are at the discretion of the teaching team and special circumstances must be submitted via the courses contact form.

The Systems Project, week 9 of semester two, requires active in-person collaboration and engagement.

Marks are generally released within three weeks of the assignment's due date.

Marks can be queried for two weeks after the grade is posted on Canvas unless otherwise stated via Canvas Announcement.

All mark queries must be submitted via the contact form.

Assessment to CLO Mapping

Assessment Type12345

Student Feedback, Support and Charter

Student Feedback

Feedback on taught courses is gathered from students at the end of each semester through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions. Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students. In addition, class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Additional Information on Student Feedback

Based on the 2025 SET Evaluation, students have requested a redistribution of the assessment weightings. This will be addressed in the 2026 course, by increasing the weightings across the group projects.

From the 2025 SET Evaluations, most students enjoy and gain insightful experience from the Systems project. This is captured in SET comments like, "It was diffiuclt to justify systems week when it was only worth 40% of our mark. Systems week felt like such a big milestone, and a culmination of all our hard work, that for it too obly be worth 40% felt quite disappointing. A lot of weight was put on the quizzes instead, which felt quite arbitrary."

Some students still struggle to see the relevance of this course in their engineering degree. The teaching will work to better integrate the real world examples into the lecture material.  


Class representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Tuākana

Tuākana is a multi-faceted programme for Māori and Pacific students providing topic specific tutorials, one-on-one sessions, test and exam preparation and more. Explore your options at Tuakana Learning Communities.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor. Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website.

Wellbeing

We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - please see the Support Services page for information on support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed work is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due. If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page. This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter.

Student Academic Complaints and Disputes

Students with concerns about teaching including how a course is delivered, the resources provided, or supervision arrangements, have the right to express their concerns and seek resolution. The university encourages informal resolution where possible, as this is quicker and less stressful. For information on the informal and formal complaints processes, please refer to the Student Academic Complaints Statute in the Student Policies and Guidelines section of the Policy Hub.