This study assesses how much control governments of the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly the British Commonwealth) are exercising over their universities. The study encompassed a review of the relevant literature, an examination of the acts and statutes which control universities, and a questionnaire sent to 70 university vice chancellors, which generated 53 responses. The review of the literature and the legal documents revealed considerable variation in the extent of government involvement in the affairs of universities, on a continuum which ranged from a controlling role for the state at one end to a more liberal supervising role at the other. The questionnaire responses were used to plot the relative positions of seven regions United Kingdom, Mediterranean, Australasia, Asia, Africa, North American (Canada), and the Caribbean on the same continuum. Sections of the report address sources of information and methodology, results by region, an overall picture, questions of state supervision or state control, and institutional autonomy and academic freedom. Appended are the questionnaire, a list of universities that completed the questionnaire, regional analysis of questionnaire results. A graphical presentation of the regional results, a list of the universities supplying legal documents, and a classification of questionnaire answers. (Contains 54 references.) (BF)