This proposal aims to develop international social work as a profession that recognises common values and objectives, and appreciates differences related to national contexts. This tension between 'international' and 'national' dimensions is recognised conceptually and institutionally in contemporary social work. We will contribute to current professional and practice developments in this area. We will undertake cross-national comparisons in two key areas crucial to the development of a professional workforce, competent in working with diversity and difference. We will develop coursework modules in these two areas are (1) professional governance, and (2) a critical analysis of how contexts influence identification of (selected) social problems, preferred explanatory theories and interventions in policy and practice. Participants in the exchanges will be engaged through an innovative pedagogy that recognises learners as positioned within unfamiliar contexts, and confronted by the challenges of difference as opportunities for learning. The pedagogy will be a third module. These activities will involve exchanges and collaboration by 40 EU/40 AUS students and 16 EU/16 AUS staff and will inform the development and evaluation of the pedagogy, theory and practice modules, and establish opportunities for long-term research and professional practice collaborations.