Technology, Sustainability and Society

ENG2002

For engineers and surveyors to meet their responsibilities towards society they must be able to appreciate how politics, culture, economics and the law affect their work.

Availability

Our distance learning courses are offered throughout the year to help you fit study around your work and life commitments.
Courses are offered up to 12 times per year depending on demand and availability of academic staff.
Exact start dates are in the course information pages and in our Enrolment dates page:

Enrolment dates

Cost

Course costs can be found on all course pages. The fees may increase annually.
Qualification cost – to give you an idea of how much a qualification may cost in total over the duration of your studies, an approximate cost is provided for many of our qualifications. This is based on the required number of courses to complete the qualification and the average cost of those courses. It does not include annual administration fees, text books and course materials or external exam fees, and is subject to annual course fee increases.

Credits

Courses are assigned credits depending on how much time and effort is needed to complete their learning outcomes. In general, each credit represents approximately 10 hours of study time.

Delivery method

Online – The course materials for online courses are delivered in an online format and all assignments are submitted online.
Mixed – These courses are delivered using a mix of online and paper based course materials. This may include receiving paper course materials, submitting assignments online, or being required to participate in online forums and learning activities.
Print Only - The course will be delivered using paper based courses materials, and assignments may need to be submitted in hard copy rather than online. This will depend on the course.

Whether courses are delivered online, on paper or a mixture of both, there may also be components such as workshops, noho marae, work experience and practicum to participate in. To find out what your course involves check the course information page.

EFTS

EFTS stands for equivalent full-time student. An EFTS is the study time required for each course and is used by the Tertiary Education Commission to decide if a course is part-time or full-time.

One year of full-time study is generally between 0.8 and 1.2 EFTS.

Level

You can tell how hard a course or qualification is by the level it is set at:

Levels 1-4 are about the same as secondary school and basic trades training.
Levels 5-7 are the same as university study.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites are courses that must be completed before another course can be studied.
Co-requisites are courses that can be studied at the same time as another course.

If a course has a specific prerequisite or co-requisite course, it will be listed on the course page under the title 'Prerequisites'. If no courses are listed, check the entry and other requirements under the qualification you are studying for. Some courses require you to have studied at a particular level prior to enrolling.

Student loans

Not all qualifications or students are eligible for student loans. You will need to meet criteria such as studying a minimum number of credits over a specific study period. It is up to you to apply for a student loan via StudyLink - Open Polytechnic does not do this for you.

Information about student loans and eligibility

StudyLink website

Teaching weeks

Teaching weeks is the number of weeks that we teach a course. This differs from the enrolment period, which is based on the course start and end dates.

For example, a 20-week enrolment period will have 16 teaching weeks, followed by four weeks to accommodate marking, any extensions and reassessments, or exams.

Workload

The workload estimate given on a course page is calculated like this:

Number of credits x 10, divided by the number of teaching weeks for the course. The hours will be rounded up to nearest whole number.

Please note, this is a guide only. You may need more or less time for study, and you may also need to do more hours during assessment due dates or exams times.

Level
6
Credits
15
EFTS
0.125
Teaching weeks 17 weeks
Workload Approximately 9 hours per week
Prerequisites Check entry and other requirements under the qualification you are studying

They must also understand how their work impacts on different sections of the community and the physical environment, and be prepared to deal with the issue of long-term sustainability.

The goal of this course is to provide you with the opportunity to develop skills and attitudes that will help you promote and defend your work within your profession and within society at large.

What you will learn

When you successfully complete this course you will be able to

appreciate the history of technology, and assess the basis of common criticisms of modern technology and associated benefits to human society
understand the basic concepts behind environmental sustainability
justify the need to move towards more sustainable practices
understand the concepts behind, and apply the principles of effective environmental impact assessment
understand the role of politics, politicians, power and government and illustrate the political dimension of engineering and surveying activities
acquire a basic knowledge of economics and profitability forecasting
perform a simple Net Present Value (NPV) exercise using Excel spreadsheet
assess the likely effects of economic policies on technological enterprises
appreciate the relevance of social structures and cultural values, and deduce the causal factors behind technological developments during different periods of human history
propose strategies for working effectively in a multicultural environments
determine the relevance of social structure and cultural values to the engineering and surveying professions and demonstrate an awareness of the key factors that may influence the practice of engineering in an overseas country
acquire a basic knowledge of the International and Australian the legal system
identify ethical and legal constraints that are most likely to concern professional engineers or surveyors
examine the basic philosophies behind modern technological management management
identify and discuss conflicts between client and societal expectations and recognise the impacts of globalisation in engineering industries.

Assessment

Assessment for this course is:

30% internally assessed
70% exam.

For more information about exams, including a full list of exam times see our exam information.

Exams

Textbooks

No textbooks are needed for this course.

Computer and internet requirements

To complete this course you will need access to a laptop or desktop computer, reliable broadband internet connection and a data plan able to support online learning such as streaming of videos (including YouTube), downloading content, and writing and submitting online assessments. If you are unsure if your current computer or internet access allows you to complete your online learning with us, please contact us before applying to enrol.

Learn more about our online learning and study tools.

How to enrol

Before enrolling in this course you need to:

choose the qualification you will study the course under
check the order that courses in the qualification should be studied in the Qualification Structure table. This is in the Choose courses and apply tab on the qualification page.

Work towards

Course availability over the next 12 months

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

2025

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr