The evolution of South African universities continues to be shaped by both apartheid and more recent post-apartheid policies. Yet the South African university system is mainly an elite, low participation and high attrition system, offering a medium quality education. Moreover, there is uneven attention to the opportunities that internationalization might bring to South Africa. The paper explores South Africa's position in a global, African and regional perspective, and looks at post-apartheid trends in the internationalization of higher education. Finally, it provides an analysis, looking forward, of the essential conditions for more beneficial internationalization. This will include addressing "brain drain" and "brain gain," global dialogue and mutual learning, and collaborative partnerships, marked by a common commitment to sound academic values, scientific integrity, ethics and social responsibility.