For many decades, universities worldwide have been experiencing reform processes that aim to transform them into another sector of the economy that could be labelled ‘academic industries’. This process implies that universities, starting as institutions centered on the education of individuals and the promotion of knowledge, have to become another one understood as a provider of human capital and scientific input to the economy. Moreover, there is an increasing state regulation of universities, a replacement of an academic model of governance with another one based on corporate management, and a proliferation of quantitative measure systems to evaluate teaching and research. Seeing all these tendencies, the presenter gathers testimony and criticisms from academics worldwide, explores the deep causes and conceptual and practical problems of this project, and offers a series of alternative suggestions.