This paper examines some aspects of current debates about what constitutes the global university in the 21st century, focusing particularly on concepts and perspectives about how the idea of a university is being produced and reproduced. As well as exploring the theoretical and empirical content of eight different analyses ranging from the relationship between the university and the welfare state to the effects of the financialization of academic publishing, this paper considers the relevance of the arguments presented to universities themselves and the extent to which the contributions analyzed might also appeal to policy makers and university leaders. The eight analyses selected are among those presented at two recent international seminar series on universities, ideas, and globalization processes for which the author was a co-organizer.