The proposed paper explores relationship between internationalisation and differentiation within the context of the European Higher Education Area. Both processes have been across Europe almost universally considered as a favourable condition, indeed strength, for the advancement of the European higher education area. Yet, the interpretations of the goal to internationalise and to differentiate vary significantly across Europe, and the interrelation between these two important processes has not been much explored. The proposed paper seeks to investigate to what degree and how internationalisation is a factor leading to differentiation on the systemic and on the institutional levels. In other words, it explores which aspects of diversity internationalisation impacts to a greatest degree and how. It posits that different objectives to internationalise lead to differences in degrees and forms of differentiation across European higher education systems and higher education institutions. While internationalisation surely is not the only drive towards differentiation, it can be conducive to it. The underlying assumption here is that the higher education environment which influences the behaviour of governments and institutions extends to international context. Hence, the decisions on what is a viable government higher educational policy or university structure in one nation is shaped by pressures (and opportunities) stemming from international context (Zha 2009).

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