National universities, in a broad sense, are relative to the definition of private universities, that is, "universities directly under the state", and in a narrow sense, they are mainly relative to provincial universities, municipal universities and private universities. That is, a public university formally established or directly managed by the central government, directly managed by the Ministry of Education, with its president appointed by the central government, funded by the state treasury and named after the state, is not subject to the jurisdiction and intervention of local governments and organizations.
In foreign countries, "national universities" are generally defined as public universities in a broad sense. It is often more closely related to the country's cultural or political aspirations. For example, the National University of Ireland collected a lot of information about Irish language and Irish culture for Irish independence in the early days.
In the history of China, universities officially named as "national" generally adopted the narrow concept of "national". The promulgation of 1922 "Ren Xu Academic System" and 1924 "National University Regulations" marked the transformation of modern university system design in China from imitation of Japan to imitation of the United States.
In principle, the professional independent colleges, junior colleges and a few public universities marked with the word "national" established by local governments do not meet the requirements of national universities or are not recognized by the central government.
Colleges and universities directly under the central ministries and commissions, especially those under state key construction, still have the meaning of state, but the word "state" is no longer used in their names.