Higher education is a global market and universities are increasingly becoming MNEs. This article extends international business studies (IB) accounts of the Janus face of globalisation through a user-perception analysis of higher education services in the world’s most significant per-capita education exporter nation. The analysis is entirely qualitative and does not offer statistically significant conclusions, drawing on experiential data from a programme of 200 in-depth semi-structured interviews with cross-border students enrolled in that country. The central finding is that the global education market delivers positive and negative experiences for students, pointing to the need for more attention on sector governance. Governance change may ensure that the positives are leveraged for continued sector growth for the sake of students and universities. For IB research, the study implies a need for greater inter-disciplinarity, in particular incorporating global governance, globalisation analysis and international education studies.