The research provides a selective report on the learning experiences covering a whole year of study for a double-degree Master's programme by a cohort of early-career Indonesians. They were undertaking the second half of the programme at The University of Adelaide in South Australia, and for all 18 students it was their first taste of learning in an overseas university and living in an Australian city. All were sponsored employees of the Ministry of Industry in Indonesia engaged in various kinds of agricultural development work. The research is analysed as a case study in workforce development, reflecting the aspirations of the government agency in enhancing the knowledge and learning skills of its young employees as a form of long-term investment and change-management strategy. The emphasis on exposing them to new learning experiences underlines the spirit and form of workforce development driven and funded by a large-scale Indonesian government bureaucracy.