Late modernity is presumably transforming academia through a number of parallel processes. Globalisation, the vast impact of new technologies, an accentuated commodification of higher education, increasing political pressure to harmonise national higher education systems, and a political desire within the EU (and among others) to adjust the educational system to the needs of the labour market have had a significant impact on academia. The internationalisation of higher education plays a central role in these processes. Though it is a popular concept among educators and policy-makers (Knight 1997; Yang 2002; Stier 2002) the meaning of internationalisation, in many respects, remains unclear or even contradictory. By the same token, the ideological underpinnings of internationalisation in higher education are rarely discussed.In studies by Stier (2003/2004) it is argued that internationalisation policies are solidly grounded in varying, though not explicit or even intentional, ideologies that exercise influence on the approach to internationalisation-work at universities around the world. In these studies it has been proposed that three overall ideologies are visible in university visions, policy statements, curricula and teaching methods. As ideal-typical constructs, these have been referred to as instrumentalism, idealism and educationalism. Instrumentalists tend to view higher education as a means to increase profit, ensure economic growth and sustainable development or to spread desirable ideologies of governments, transnational corporations, interest groups, supranational regimes etc. According to idealists, the principal task of universities is to "foster" good, morally conscious citizens that adhere to an emanicipatory outlook on the world. Educationalists, finally, seem to stress life-long learning, far beyond organised education, with a strong emphasis on the value of learning itself and education in a wider sense of the word. Against this background this paper explores the ideologies - instrumentalism, idealism and educationalism (Stier 2003/2004) - embedded in internationalisation policies in Sweden, the USA, Canada and Australia. More specifically, by drawing upon the current discourse within the disciplines of education and sociology, internationalisation policies, mission statements and curricula of x number of universities and educational bodies in these countries are critically investigated with the aim of scrutinising their ideological underpinnings. Another aim, albeit subordinate, is to obtain an indication as to the fruitfulness of the concepts of instrumentalism, idealism and educationalism. The discussion is concluded with a typology describing the similarities and dissimilarities between the universities and countries in the sample.