In a conversation between Francis Fukuyama, the Stanford-based political scientist, to publicise his new book "The Origins of Political Order," and Martin Wolf, the distinguished financial journalist, Fukuyama compares political systems in countries like China and Singapore with the liberal West. Without taking the analogy too far the same might be said of university governance which, like the international political scene, is facing potential unprecedented turmoil with polarised views as to how to react to it. In this article, the author discusses the changing face of university governance and describes alternative approaches to modern university governance. (Contains 2 figures.)