Systems Engineering

This course is an introductory postgraduate course suitable for graduates from a wide range of disciplines, for example, engineering, science, business, and management that introduces students to the practise of system engineering. Systems Engineering (SE) draws its theoretical basis from the fundamentals, principles, and models of foundational systems sciences and so we start the course with an introduction on the systems theory that informs the discipline. Attention then turns to describing what systems engineering is: the art and science of creating systems. While SE had its genesis in product development, the course will show how SE can equally well be used for service and enterprise systems. Following the introductory material, the course steps through the core activity areas in SE: system needs analysis, requirements writing, functional design and analysis, synthesis, verification and validation, SE analysis, and SE management. The course will inculcate the concept that when tackling real-world problems, it is important to view the larger context in which one finds the problem and to endeavour to find a solution that works within this wider context. The course material will be supported by numerous examples of SE practice and contemporary international research. This course aims to provide more than just a theoretical background, it seeks to instil functional knowledge on how to choose systems approaches from the broad canvas of SE methods, tools, and processes and apply them to complex socio-technical problems spanning from designing a spacecraft to tackling environmental sustainability. The course assessment has been designed to develop and exercise the practices taught and provide students with a valuable toolbox to take to the workplace.