This article, firstly, analyses changes in higher education internationally since about 1980. It shows that essentially similar shifts -- massification, marketisation and managerialism, overseen by the regulatory state -- emerged with striking synchronicity in advanced capitalist societies. Secondly, it argues that since 1994 these international trends have impacted substantially on higher education practices and policies in South Africa. It asks whether such impact has compromised policies designed to transform higher education provision and outcomes. Can local priorities and principles withstand what is in effect an overall policy package -- ideologically coherent, internationally endorsed -- shaping policy choices elsewhere?