This article engages with the question: what does the internationalisation of higher education in times of globalisation sustain and what should it sustain? We first consider, through literature on globalisation and Stier's ("Glob Soc Educ" 2(1):1-28, 2004) work, limitations of currently prevalent perspectives on internationalisation in economic terms. We then offer a brief review of how sustainability is understood in higher education and articulate our own notion of educational sustainability. We flesh it out in reference to data reflecting ideas and activities constitutive of daily practices of internationalisation in one faculty of education. We contend that our sustainability frame of reference can expand opportunities to think critically about internationalisation and, more importantly, offers opportunities to see internationalisation in its complexity, and to re-think and reorder practices that are not in alignment with educational goals and values.