This paper challenges the view that internationalisation of higher education is a 'global public good' by examining the growing tension between centres and peripheries in higher education. We argue for the need to develop new conceptual frameworks of internationalisation that recognise the uneven landscape of higher education, and that take greater account of the local (socio-political and geographic) contexts in which institutions are situated. Drawing on a recent study of universities in the less explored Eastern regions of Russia, this paper shows how Klemencic's integrated approach to higher education internationalisation provides a useful conceptual framework for exploring and potentially guiding the internationalisation process in higher education institutions in the periphery.