Sweden has actively pursued internationalisation policies at national level, in parallel to the pursuit of internationalisation strategies of individual universities. Thisarticle focuses on university responses towards internationalisation, and the inter -play between external higher education environments and institutional positioning.We draw on empirical qualitative research in two of Sweden’s largest universities, toexamine institutional responses to internationalisation, expressed through documen-tary material and interviews with 32 senior leaders. Our findings suggest that theglobal research environment acts as a strong discursive driver for internationalisa-tion actions, manifested in the strategic partnerships pursued by the two institutions.An equally powerful driver, is the national higher education sector as a context ofconstant comparisons and competition but also as a source of collaborative learningand exchange. The two universities exhibit strategic autonomy in their reading ofthe internationalisation imperative, and in constructing their actions and responses,although these are significantly framed by size and geography. In the Swedish highereducation landscape, these two dimensions constitute a constraining physical anddiscursive context, underpinning the links between a global, internationalised envi-ronment, and the universities’ self-image and positioning.