This chapter presents findings from interviews with 40 current and former lecturers who worked in Uzbekistan’s higher education (HE) system between 1991 and 2016. It explores the nature and types of internationalisation programs in HE institutions and examines the factors and obstacles that affected the restriction of HE internationalisation in the country. The chapter highlights how international cooperation was often perceived as a threat, leading to significant barriers in initiating and implementing internationalisation activities. It discusses how and why HE institutions treated any international cooperation activity as a threat. Based on interview data, four key obstacles to international engagement are identified and discussed. The chapter also explores how the HE system was deliberately shielded from internationalisation and how academic staff responded to these restrictive policies. As a pioneering study on the securitisation of HE internationalisation in Uzbekistan, this research fills a critical gap by providing first-hand accounts in the absence of official or secondary data.