What does 'broadly conceived' mean?

The course is very broadly conceived (= it covers a wide range of topics)

According to Oxford dictionary, 'conceive' means 'to form a plan or idea in mind'. Why does 'broadly conceived' means 'to cover a wide range of sth' in the sentence above? Is the course still thought of in mind or has it become an existing thing in reality?

The Longman Dictionary definition perhaps leads most clearly to understanding this fixed expression ('broadly conceived'):

conceive [verb] 1 [intransitive, transitive] [formal] to imagine a particular situation or to think about something in a particular way

So 'broadly conceived' is seen as applying to, in the first instance, an idea or field where boundaries aren't too rigorously defined

• Also that year, he received the Japan Art Association's Praemium Imperiale prize for "painting" (broadly conceived). [Encyclopedia Britannica; Ludwig.guru]

One wonders what 'his' entry actually was. Note that 'broadly speaking' is a common variant for the comment on precision in the use of language.

However, the string has broadened to overlap with the 'create' sense of 'conceive', so that one might see say

• All three works on the program were broadly conceived, spreading their wings to take in the full range of a symphony orchestra's tones and timbres. [The New York Times - Arts; Ludwig.guru]

with the meaning 'diverse', 'composed so as to have many elements'. Here, note that 'is/are/was/were broadly conceived' uses the auxiliary be, and is arguably more verbal (a passive construction) in nature.