The rise of New Public Management (NPM) from the 1980s onwards has changed Dutch and Flemish university governance. Although NPM is widely debated, the concrete practices and challenges at the organizational level, underlying Dutch and Flemish university governance, are poorly understood. Current writing does not always address important details and the historical context. To fill this gap, this project covers a historical, comparative study on the governance changes of four cases: Leiden University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Ghent University, and KU Leuven. The aim of this project is to understand the rise of NPM in Dutch and Flemish universities between 1980-2020.