Privatization of universities, in a general sense, is to turn some state-owned universities into private enterprises. Judging from the actual operation of universities all over the world, the privatization of universities is more used to express a trend and development direction than just a situation (this situation not only refers to ownership, but also includes the mission, source of funds and management mode of universities). There are two meanings in this: first, if a university can enjoy great autonomy in accordance with government policies, can operate in accordance with the norms of private enterprises, and mainly rely on non-government funds to run schools, then the school is actually "private". Second, even private universities are not really private schools if they rely heavily on government investment and the government has many restrictions on them.

There are two ways to privatize universities. One is to encourage the establishment of private universities, but more public or government-controlled universities are privatized, so that more public universities can operate according to private enterprises.

Advocates of university privatization believe that university privatization has four advantages: 1. For the government, after more private funds enter the field of higher education, more education funds can be transferred to the field of compulsory education to improve the quality of compulsory education; 2. As far as higher education is concerned, the relative independence of finance will increase the discourse power of universities, and the diversification of funding sources will undoubtedly enhance the dominant position of universities. After the public is turned into private, universities will gradually dilute the administrative color; 3. For private education, if a number of key universities are transformed into private schools, it will change the impression that private schools will always be third-rate (or even non-inflow) schools, attract more private funds into the field of education, and create a good environment for the development of private education. 4. Equal competition among colleges and universities will make running schools return to the law of education, attach importance to improving the quality of education, and make higher education give higher returns to the educated.