This article draws on data from an ethnographic account of the institutionalisation of 'the intercultural' within a large British university. The study finds that although the term 'intercultural' is frequently used in multiple forms, it is often aligned with the dominant discourses of the neoliberal university system in order to become an accepted part of the institution. A counter position, which I label 'interculturality from below', is taken by some social actors within the university who challenge essentialist and neoliberal approaches to the intercultural. This study is relevant to arguments which emphasise the need for a paradigm shift in the applications of the intercultural and it raises the question of whether a paradigm shift is possible within a neoliberal university system.