The article aims to interpret and compare recent governance shifts in higher education across several countries, both at the central government level and at the institutional or "corporate" level. In order to do that it reviews the most significant literature about alternative theoretical models of governance in higher education and uses these models to interpret changing governance across several nations. It suggests the existence of a general tendency towards a "new managerialism" governance model in Western Europe. In order to explain this tendency special attention is paid to countries in the forefront of governance innovation. The traditional continental European model is a term of comparison. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure and 32 notes.)