Three major drivers of internationalisation in higher education are student mobility, staff mobility and offshore delivery. All have increased rapidly over the last 20 years and a high-end estimate suggests that 6 million students will be studying abroad by 2020. Anglophone countries have dominated this process: four English-speaking countries deliver more than 50% of programmes involving students studying abroad. English-medium universities also have a strong influence in particular geographical regions: 70% of all Asian students studying abroad are received by three main English-speaking countries (Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States).

This leads to questions of equity and quality at national, institutional and individual levels. At national level, non-Anglophone countries may be unable to attract and retain the “brightest and best”. For institutions, the skewing of the market by language affects both intellectual property capacity and financial health. Finally, for the individual, educational achievement may be constrained by the capacity to function in an alien language and academic culture. Institutions without a robust language policy, adequate preparatory training and ongoing support may, therefore, damage more than the quality of teaching or their own global brand. Building on the work of Hatakenaka (2004) this paper discusses the issues involved in the Anglophone asymmetry outlined above. In particular, the implications of the move towards teaching in the medium of English in non-Anglophone countries are outlined. The paper draws on work carried out at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China, by the Centre for English Language Education.