At the forefront of many UK universities' current strategies is a commitment to ongoing processes of internationalisation; continued progress in becoming increasingly international also sits alongside adherence to policies and practices relating to widening access and participation for home students, to achieve greater equity in terms of who can experience and participate meaningfully in university education. However, it could be argued that these two areas of focus are somewhat disparate, even at odds, with the former often being somewhat associated with revenue generation, and the latter aiming to meet goals of fairness in society. In this paper, I explore the rationale and scope for UK universities bringing these two seemingly disparate agendas more in line, with a view to achieving greater equity in the access and participation of both local and global cohorts of students in UK universities. A critical evaluation of theoretical and empirical literature exploring these two agendas elucidates the parallels in the ways both international and non-traditional home students encounter the university domain, both from a general perspective, and with a specific focus on linguistic challenges faced by these student groups. Concluding remarks outline possible directions which might better address the wide-reaching aims of addressing and nurturing the widening access/participation-internationalisation nexus.