English is core to HE (higher education) globally, with both HE and English seen as pathways to success and vehicles to level inequalities for students. However, access to HE and English is unequal and colonial ideologies still associate English with Anglophone settings (Erling, 2017; UNESCO, 2017). Much of the research on English in HE has focused on elite institutions and students, however, the role of English for the majority of the world’s HE students remains comparatively under-researched. This presentation reports on an international collaboration of research teams investigating ELT in HE through five mixed-method case studies of linguistically and culturally diverse students in Colombia, Mexico, Iraq, Thailand, Vietnam, where the importance of English has grown significantly. Taking Decolonial Theory and Global Englishes research as guiding frameworks, the aims were to explore the roles and perceptions of English, English language teaching, and other languages in policy and practice, and how these related to processes of dis/empowerment, in/equality, and de/colonialization of HE. We sought to uncover the extent to which ELT and English allowed or restricted access to opportunities of empowerment for different groups of students in their way to and through HE, and how English intersected with a range of dimensions of potential inequality, marginalisation, or privilege. Quantitative data was collected from students through a questionnaire (n=1820) concerning their previous and current experiences and perceptions of English learning and use. Interviews concerning these topics were also conducted with students, teachers and administrators at each of the sites (n= 150). This was supported by documentary analysis from local and national policy documents, classroom materials, and classroom observations. We discuss factors that influenced students’ experiences and opportunities in learning and using English and the extent to which potentially disempowering Anglophone norms were still reproduced or resisted.