Unit Synopsis
The global food system faces a range of economic, social, political, and environmental challenges. In this unit you will explore emerging challenges in agricultural systems in Australia and around the world, and assess opportunities for development of sustainable management solutions. Case studies will be drawn from a range of contexts across the globe, with a particular emphasis on resource-limited settings, including low- and middle-income countries. You will explore the effects of resource availability and management actions on primary production and discuss the social, economic, political, and ecological dimensions associated with them. You will undertake an investigation into a current challenge confronting a food or fibre production system and offer practical strategies for sustainable agricultural systems.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Minimum of 72 credit points 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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026
Term 1 - 2027 Profile
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 Undergraduate 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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Test | 30% |
| 2. Case Study | 20% |
| 3. Report | 50% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web 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.
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflections
The unit covers a broad range of topics with limited time spent examining ways that graduates may use the knowledge from the unit to contribute to more sustainable practices.
Some of the content in the unit could be presented as prerecorded material, with more class time spent working through case studies of application of sustainability concepts and principles in the tasks that graduates will perform in roles within industry.
Some material was pre-recorded this year but students were also supplied with more material from other sources (reading, watching, etc.).
Source: SUTE
More practical activities
The possibility of mailed-out resources or a residential school to facilitate more hands-on practical activities should be explored for feasibility and impact.
Using mailed-out resources would have aligned with Assessment 2. However, this year, Assessment 2 took on a discussion based problem solving task, which did not necessitate mailed out resources.
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflections
Change in Assessment
The Quiz Assessment should be changed to a presentation, discussion board or written assessment.
This change was not implemented but should be for Term 1 2027.
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflections
Change in Assessment
The Quiz Assessment (Assessment 1) should be changed to a presentation, discussion board or written assessment.
In Progress
Source: Student feedback and Unit Coordinator Reflections
Maintain weekly small group discussions
The weekly small group discussions for Assessment 2 proved to be particularly engaging for the students. This activity type should be included in the future.
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflections
Explore options for WIL or community-based application for this unit
The unit lends itself well to applying sustainability to local production systems. Options for WIL-like learning and assessment should be explored before the next offering.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate how challenges facing the global food system are impacting agricultural management actions
- Integrate scientific knowledge for the development of sustainable management solutions for the cropping or livestock industry
- Develop solutions to the complex challenges facing agricultural systems.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Online Test | • | ||
| 2 - Case Study | • | • | |
| 3 - Report | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | ||
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |