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One in four Australian undergraduate students participates in learning abroad during their study. Since 2012, faculty-led mobility programmes have overtaken exchange programs to become the most popular outbound mobility type in Australia. However, little has been known about how faculty-led short-term mobility programmes affect students' employability and what might be the benefits of Australian science students' participation in this type of mobility in the Indo-Pacific. This article analyses how a faculty-led programme in science to Japan affects its participants' employability, from the perspectives of students participating in a New Colombo Plan mobility program funded by the Australian government. The study found that it was changes in the students' guided learning circumstance as they navigated the transient space in off-track locations in Japan that enabled them to learn new disciplinary knowledge, acquire transferable skills, accumulate real-life Indo-Pacific experiences and develop empathy and cultural understandings. Despite the development of these qualities, the study found challenges facing students to link knowledge-skill-attribute development to employability. The article discussed implications for developing a more systemic and coordinated approach across the curriculum, career support unit and global mobility office to integrate learning abroad experiences into pedagogy and career counselling service to enhance student employability.

One in four Australian undergraduate students participates in learning abroad during their study. Since 2012, faculty-led mobility programmes have overtaken exchange programs to become the most popular outbound mobility type in Australia. However, little has been known about how faculty-led short-term mobility programmes affect students' employability and what might be the benefits of Australian science students' participation in this type of mobility in the Indo-Pacific. This article analyses how a faculty-led programme in science to Japan affects its participants' employability, from the perspectives of students participating in a New Colombo Plan mobility program funded by the Australian government. The study found that it was changes in the students' guided learning circumstance as they navigated the transient space in off-track locations in Japan that enabled them to learn new disciplinary knowledge, acquire transferable skills, accumulate real-life Indo-Pacific experiences and develop empathy and cultural understandings. Despite the development of these qualities, the study found challenges facing students to link knowledge-skill-attribute development to employability. The article discussed implications for developing a more systemic and coordinated approach across the curriculum, career support unit and global mobility office to integrate learning abroad experiences into pedagogy and career counselling service to enhance student employability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the abundance, including spatial and temporal variability, of phases of the isomorphic Chondrus verrucosus Mikami from Japan. Chondrus verrucosus occurred in a dense (∼90% cover) and temporally stable bed on a small, isolated rocky outcrop (Oyakoiwa) in Shizuoka Prefecture. Small vegetative fronds were always much more abundant than large vegetative and fertile fronds over the spring to late summer periods in 1999 and 2000. Over the same period, fertile carposporophytic fronds were generally more abundant than fertile tetrasporophytic fronds, and fertile male fronds appeared infrequently at low densities. Using the resorcinol-acetal test, we determined the proportion of gametophytes and tetrasporophytes in three populations of C. verrucosus: Oyakoiwa and Noroshi (Shizuoka) in the summers of 1999 and 2000 and Kamehana Point (Miyagi) in autumn 2000. All populations had a significantly higher proportion of gametophytes than tetrasporophytes in both years, although gametophytic proportions were lower at Noroshi (∼70%) than at Oyakoiwa (∼80%) and Kamehana Point (∼97%). However, examination of all isolated individuals sampled on Noroshi showed equal proportions of each phase in 1999, but gametophyte dominance (74%) in 2000. Differences in dispersal and spore production between phases are discussed as mechanisms potentially contributing to variation in gametophyte dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the variability in supply of algal propagules is scarce, hindered by the difficulty in identifying propagules, but this variability may affect the distribution and abundance of algal assemblages. This study examined the small-scale (½ hourly to hourly) temporal variation in propagule supply of Chondrus verrucosus (Gigartinaceae, Rhodophyta) over a dense, isolated bed in south-eastern Japan in summer and winter of 1999. Either 0.5 litre scoop samples or 5 litre pump samples were collected ½ hourly to hourly over 13, 22.5, and 30 h on three occasions in summer (June & July) and 32 h on one occasion in winter (December). Sampling was conducted around either the new moon (two occasions in summer) or full moon (one occasion in both summer and winter) and incorporated full tidal sequences including daytime (summer) and nighttime (winter) low-low (LL) tides. Chondrus verrucosus was the only red alga with spores within the size range of 15-20 μm that was fertile in the study area and surrounds at the time of sampling facilitating identification of spores. Spores in scoop samples were settled onto Petri dishes and identified on the basis of cell shape, colour and size. Pump samples were filtered onto transparent membrane filters and identified using epifluorescence microscopy: C. verrucosus spores fluoresced bright yellow and were easily distinguished from other micro-organisms of similar size, which fluoresced red or green. Results showed that while propagules could be found in the water column at most times, propagule supply of C. verrucosus was greatest during the 1-2 h period following LL tides. Variability in propagule supply was less than in previous studies examining surface or offshore waters. Spore release is thought to be stimulated by either desiccation or salinity changes associated with periods of emersion at low tide followed by re-immersion on incoming tides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]