Unit Synopsis
This unit provides postgraduate students with an advanced, interdisciplinary understanding of sustainability and value creation. It focuses on how projects can deliver economic capital while building social capital and preserving natural capital. Students will critically examine and apply leading sustainability standards, principles, and frameworks from Australia and internationally, including the triple bottom line, corporate responsibility, and the business case for sustainability. The unit emphasises the role of projects as vehicles for delivering sustainable value, exploring how economic, social, and environmental considerations shape project delivery throughout the lifecycle. Learners will engage with real-world challenges and develop the skills to lead, innovate, and influence sustainable outcomes in complex project environments.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 9 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
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 1 - 2026
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 Postgraduate 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. Report | 30% |
| 2. Case Study | 50% |
| 4. In-class Test(s) | 20% |
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 .
Term 1 - 2020 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 90.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 58.82% response rate.
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: Moodle feedback
Clash between assessment timing and other units causing students to have too great a workload in crucial ending weeks.
The timing and grading of assessments will be changed to enable better time management by students.
Change of assessment timing has not been an easy task considering the types of assessments for this unit. Efforts are made to guide students on their assignment work through the Moodle page, lectures and tutorials, making their job easier to handle their assignment work for the unit.
Source: Students' evaluation
The weekly portfolios are great ways of reflecting on the learning and knowledge gained throughout the unit.
Weekly portfolios as examples of reflective practice greatly contribute to students' learning and achievement of unit learning outcomes. It is recommended to further refine the content and required workload of 'consolidated portfolio' assessment.
In Progress
Source: Students' evaluation
The written assessment provides a holistic view of project work in a large asset environment. However, more instructions and guidelines on how to put forward the assessment work would reduce the time spent in preparing it.
Review the content and marking criteria to bring further clarity to the assessment tasks.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate complex sustainability challenges within project environments, integrating multidisciplinary perspectives to justify evidence-based solutions
- Design innovative project strategies that embed sustainability principles across the entire project lifecycle, addressing environmental, social, and economic dimensions
- Synthesise advanced theoretical and practical knowledge to propose frameworks for resolving sustainability dilemmas in diverse project contexts
- Critique current sustainability standards and benchmarks in various project contexts, recommending improvements tailored to specific industry or regional needs
- Lead collaborative initiatives that drive transformative sustainability outcomes, demonstrating ethical decision-making and effective communication with diverse stakeholders
The unit contributes to the required number of academic study units for students wishing to undertake profession certification with the Project Management Institute's (PMI) professional qualifications, such as CAPM or PMP.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Report | • | • | |||
| 2 - Case Study | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Research | • | ||||
| 5 - Self-management | • | ||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | • | ||
| 7 - Leadership | • | ||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |