Higher education, especially that leading to a degree from a high-prestige university, is strongly related to social status and employment opportunities in East Asian countries. This is a consequence of both traditional Confucian attitudes to education and the social and economic changes accompanying industrialisation. Since the number of places available at high-prestige universities is limited, competition is intense. Successful entry to such a university is not only an important achievement for the future career of the student, but also a victory for the family. In contrast, failure to do so is often seen as shameful for the family, sometimes resulting in psychological problems or suicide. This background affects the international education of East Asian students, who often have a high level of family support, with correspondingly high expectations of their success. Motives for international study vary, from avoidance of the hyper-competitive domestic system, pursuit of an overseas degree as an 'easy option' of moderate prestige, to an expectation of more up-to-date teaching and content. Understanding this background can be a first step for Australian or other Western educators to better meet the needs of East Asian international students and to attract students from East Asia in the long term.

On the basis of their cognitive abilities, children with Asperger syndrome are attractive candidates for inclusive education and, in Australia, most are in integrated settings. However, social interaction between children with Asperger syndrome and their peers remains problematic, with the children with Asperger syndrome often being left alone despite being among or near classmates. For classroom teachers, effective interventions in terms of class management are critical to facilitate positive social interaction between these two groups of children, and case studies can tell us a great deal about what works. In practice, a combination of intervention techniques may be best, in case a single one is ineffective, and in order to take advantage of potential synergies. In this article, Serene Choi, of the School of Education at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and Timo Nieminen, of the Centre for Biophotonics and Laser Science in the Department of Physics at the University of Queensland, report a naturalistic multiple-component intervention used to develop the social skills of a boy with Asperger syndrome in a mainstream school in Australia. This combined intervention, making use of social stories, simple peer modelling and individual lessons, appears to be a practical teaching method for inclusive education.

Since physics research is an activity of an active international community, international visits are a common way for physicists to share scientific knowledge and skills. International mobility of physicists is also important for PhD physics study and research training. We investigated personal and social factors that influenced the decision for international PhD students to study physics in Australia. Eleven international PhD physics students at a university in Australia participated in individual in-depth interviews. As a result, multidimensional factors on their decision to engage in PhD study abroad were found. Although highly regarded research fields and/or experts in fields appeared as a strong influential factor, other personal and social contexts also influence the final decision. This indicates intertwined aspects of personal learning desire and social contexts for PhD international learners in physics who are underrepresented in the higher education literature.

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