About this course: "Introduction to Systems Engineering" uses a structured yet flexible approach to provide a holistic, solid foundation to the successful development of complicated systems. The course takes you step by step through the system life cycle, from design to development, production and management. You will learn how the different components of a system interrelate, and how each contributes to a project’s goals and success. The discipline’s terminology, which can so often confuse the newcomer, is presented in an easily digestible form. Weekly video lectures introduce and synthesise key concepts, which are then reinforced with quizzes and practical exercises to help you measure your learning. This course welcomes anyone who wants to find out how complex systems can be developed and implemented successfully. It is relevant to anyone in project management, engineering, QA, logistic support, operations, management, maintenance and other work areas. No specific background is required, and we welcome learners with all levels of interest and experience.

Created by: UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales)

Taught by: Dr Mike Ryan, Senior Lecturer
School of Engineering and IT
Taught by: Dr Ian Faulconbridge , Industry Fellow
School of Engineering and IT

Commitment	4-5 hours/week
Language	English
How To Pass	Pass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings	4.7 stars Average User Rating 4.7See what learners said

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Course Welcome & Module 1 (Introduction to Systems and System Life Cycle)

Welcome to 'Introduction to Systems Engineering'! To help you in getting started with this course, we have a course introduction video that will provide you with an overview of the course syllabus.We then begin the course with this introductory module in which...

11 videos, 6 readings, 1 practice quiz

Graded: Module 1 Extension Exercise

WEEK 2

Systems Engineering and its Relevance and Benefits

In this module, we describe the discipline of systems engineering and outline its relevance and benefits. We introduce what we mean by the ‘systems engineering’ and provide a framework within which we can consider the major processes, activities, and artefacts...

9 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz

Graded: Module 2 Extension Exercise

WEEK 3

Needs and Requirements

Before we look at the various systems engineering activities in more detail in forthcoming modules, in this module we look at what we mean when we refer to the ‘needs’ and ‘requirements’ for a system. We examine the needs and requirements views developed by bu...

8 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz

Graded: Module 3 Extension Exercise

WEEK 4

Requirements Elicitation and Elaboration

In this module, we explore requirements engineering and the processes by which requirements are elicited and defined formally through a process called elaboration (which involves derivation and decomposition of lower-level requirements from their parent requir...

7 videos, 3 readings, 2 practice quizzes

Graded: Module 4 Extension Exercise

Graded: Mid-Course Exam - (Modules 1 -4)

WEEK 5

Conceptual Design

In this module we examine Conceptual Design, during which we investigate how business needs and requirements and stakeholder needs and requirements are translated into a system-level understanding of the requirements of our system. This understanding will tell...

7 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz

Graded: Module 5 Extension Exercise

WEEK 6

Preliminary and Detailed Design

In this module we pick up from where we left off at the end of Conceptual Design and we start to make some more detailed design decisions. During preliminary design, we will look at identifying the various subsystems that will need to come together to form our...

7 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz

Graded: Module 6 Extension Exercise

WEEK 7

Construction, Production, and Utilisation

We now move onto the construction and production of the system based on the detailed design from the previous stage. During construction and production, we look at critical systems engineering activities such as configuration audits and system verification. Th...

7 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz

Graded: Module 7 Extension Exercise

WEEK 8

Systems Engineering Management

In this final module, we explore some of the key management issues that systems engineering must address in order to maintain balance and control across the systems engineering effort. We look specifically at issues such as verification and validation managem...

7 videos, 1 reading, 1 practice quiz

WEEK 9

Final Exam and Information About Further Study

Having finished the modules, you are now in a position to complete the final exam covering Modules 6 to 9. Before you finish the course we also thought that you may be interested in knowing about the Master of Systems Engineering program offered by UNSW Canber...

2 videos

Graded: Final Exam - (Modules 5-8)

FAQs

How It Works

Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

Certificates

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Creators

UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales)

UNSW Australia, based in Sydney, was established in 1949 and is one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities with more than 50,000 students from over 120 countries. UNSW aspires to provide students with an outstanding educational experience, which both reflects our strong traditions of excellence, innovation and social justice, and builds on our strengths in scientific, technological and professional disciplines.

Ratings and Reviews

Rated 4.7 out of 5 of 141 ratings

Very interesting course, thank you ! Best Regards, Giovanni (Italy)

Overall, the content was structural and comprehensive enough for a broad Systems Engineering course overview. However, the delivery of the information was a bit regimented and uninspiring. Would have been nice to have added reading material available online rather than through a textbook as I am located in a country that does not have access to these books easily. Thanks!

Very interesting information, new way to improve the way you look to a project and a lot of tools that let you and your tea, to optimize and understand processes

The first part was very interesting and useful. The exercices very interesting as well. The second part was less structured, with a bit strange and unrelated exercises. Although, it was still useful.

On overall I rank it as four, because it was a really good introduction to System Engineering. Despite the above mentioned drawbacks, after accomplishment of the course, I could easily work with terms related to System Engineering and could understand much more better the design process of the systems.

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