Course Title: Engineering Economics and Infrastructure Planning

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Engineering Economics and Infrastructure Planning

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

CIVE1217

City Campus

Undergraduate

120H Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2013,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015,
Sem 1 2016

CIVE1217

City Campus

Undergraduate

172H School of Engineering

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2017,
Sem 1 2018,
Sem 1 2019,
Sem 2 2020,
Sem 2 2021,
Sem 2 2022,
Sem 2 2023

Course Coordinator: Dr Mojtaba Mahamoodian

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 0806

Course Coordinator Email: mojtaba.mahmoodian@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 10.12.26

Course Coordinator Availability: Tuesdays 10:30-12:30


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None


Course Description

Physical infrastructure is central to socio-economic development at national, regional and global levels. Practising engineers nowadays need a broad range of skills to understand the economic, environmental and social contexts within which a development infrastructure project takes place. The overall implications associated with each project option must be considered at the infrastructure planning stage. This course will offer you the opportunity to develop financial, social, environmental and economic components required as inputs into the infrastructure planning and evaluation process.

The course will introduce engineering economics theories which include time value of money (TVM), life cycle costing, and economic analysis techniques. It will further introduce systems analysis of infrastructure programs and projects, including the technical, social, environmental and economic aspects. These will enable you to prepare and evaluate business case studies and feasibility studies for civil infrastructure.

Please note that if you take this course for a bachelor honours program, your overall mark in this course will be one of the course marks that will be used to calculate the weighted average mark (WAM) that will determine your award level. (This applies to students who commence enrolment in a bachelor honours program from 1 January 2016 onwards. See the WAM information web page for more information.)


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for BH077 Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Infrastructure) (Honours):

1.5. Knowledge of contextual factors impacting the engineering discipline.
1.6. Understanding of the scope, principles, norms, accountabilities and bounds of contemporary engineering practice in the specific discipline
2.4. Application of systematic approaches to the conduct and management of engineering projects.
3.2. Effective oral and written communication in professional and lay domains.
3.3. Creative, innovative and pro-active demeanour.
3.4. Professional use and management of information.
3.6. Effective team membership and team leadership


On completion of this course you should be able to:

  1. Collate and investigate relevant background information in order to describe its impact on a project and document different phases in the life cycle of an infrastructure project.
  2. Describe the concepts of financial, economic, social and environmental impact and describe and explain how these are undertaken in an infrastructure project.
  3. Apply the basic principles of project life cycle costing (including reporting, planning and evaluation), and apply financial control to a project, (including carrying out sensitivity analyses and applying techniques to account for uncertainty in the project design process).
  4. Apply the basic principles of project appraisal and evaluation and determine project feasibility using methods such as Cost-Benefit Analysis. This may include undertaking a complete financial and economic evaluation of a project using several evaluation criteria commonly applied in the assessment of engineering project alternatives.
  5. Describe and explain the basic features of risk and quality management of a project and the extent to which these management areas need to be implemented.
  6. Demonstrate effective team membership and communication skills.


Overview of Learning Activities

Learning activities in this course consist of lectures, tutorials and self-directed study on a project.

Total study hours: You will undertake the equivalent of six hours per week in intensive group immersion experiences. In addition you can expect to spend a minimum of four hours per week in independent study.


Overview of Learning Resources

Books and online resources are available in the RMIT library. Selected online resources will be made available through Canvas. There are some recommended reference books. RMIT Library resources are listed in the  Subject Guide: http://rmit.libguides.com/civileng


Overview of Assessment

The assessment tasks include: group project reports, mid semester test and a final assignment.

 ☒This course has no hurdle requirements.

Assessment tasks

Assessment Task 1:  Mid Semester Test (in Week 5)

Weighting 20%

Time allocation: Students have 2 hours within 24 hours window to respond to the assignment questions.This assessment task supports CLOs 1 & 2

Assessment Task 2:  Group Project Work

Submitted in two stages: Stage 1 submission (20%), Final submission (30%)

Total Weighting 50%

Time allocation: Students have 4 weeks for each stage to submit their project reports.

This assessment task supports CLOs 3, 4, 5 & 6

Assessment Task 3: Final Assignment

Weighting 30%

Time allocation: Students have 3 hours within 48 hours window to respond to the assignment questions.

This assessment task supports CLO 1 & 2