The paper examines the relationship between software engineering and the subjects that comprise its related disciplines, taking as a motivating example the role of the topic of data structures and algorithms in an undergraduate degree programme in software engineering. The paper examines current models for the relationship between disciplines such as software engineering and the knowledge areas that comprise them, and it identifies the main weakness of these models. It then goes on to propose a new general model for this relationship, and it describes how this was applied in redesigning a course on data structures and algorithms within a software engineering degree programme. A qualitative evaluation is made of this redesign, from which conclusions are drawn about how this model might be applied to other topics and disciplines.