This article highlights the multifaceted character of the Swedish higher education sector and investigates senior academic management positions from a gender perspective using theories about an academic prestige economy and academic capitalism. The focus is on an aspect often overseen in research on Swedish academia: the distinction between universities and university colleges. The analysis draws on interviews with 22 women in senior management positions in Swedish higher education and a quantitative mapping of the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor positions in universities and university colleges between 1990 and 2015. The results illustrate that the academic prestige economy is interwoven with both gender and academic capitalism and produce different working conditions and requirements for senior managers at universities and university colleges.