This article contends that international education in Australian universities has been characterised by two waves. The first one was motivated by socio-political rationales of aid or assistance and followed Australia's participation in the Colombo Plan in 1951. The second and most recent wave occurred after the introduction of the Overseas Student Policy in 1985. It was motivated by economic and political rationales and its success has been strongly linked to the need of higher education institutions to generate income. The article provides some background on the internationalisation experiences of higher education institutions in the United States and Europe to assist the understanding of the Australian case. The article forms part of the work undertaken by the author for the submission of a Master of Education (Hons) thesis.