The purpose of this research was to examine challenges and issues of higher education (HE) internationalization. A qualitative study was conducted at a UK university. A total of 20 interviewees from the case study institution participated in this research. Content analysis, critical discourse analysis and categorization of meaning were adopted as data analysis strategies. The critical issues include resource and investment, workload, agent and partnership management, integration and cooperation, motivation and incentives, staff attitude and development. This study encourages an internal cohesion across different key departments, and emphasizes that HE internationalization is kind of an internal integration, rather than a set of external initiatives. Research findings reflect the university’s critical internal concern of HE internationalization.