This paper assesses the assumption that public research-intensive universities are conforming to external pressures and demands in similar ways. By analyzing the strategic plans of public research-intensive universities in Northern Europe and North America, we identify variations in how public and private dimensions of higher education are balanced. The study includes 19 North American and Northern European universities and finds that North American universities loosely couple strategic objectives addressing separate stakeholders linked to their public and private missions. Northern European universities tend to organize their strategic priorities more tightly within a narrative of 'research excellence.' The findings suggest the nature of change in contemporary higher education and the blurring boundaries between public and private missions.