The various narratives --or practical discourse--that make up the self-awareness and ideology of the modern public state universities have been subject to intense examination. The present article describes the core models of these narratives --simply put as Humboldtian and Napoleonic--with their different evolutions and expressions in various contemporary higher education environments. The discussion shows that the 'idea of the public or state university', developed by these narratives, are quite dramatically distinct in the present day. Today the public university lacks a narrative, an explanation of itself, and a sense of how to account for new organizational forms and practices of knowledge production, transmission and management. Given these antecedents, the article makes proposals to refresh the practical discourse of public/state universities in Latin America and examines the possibility of a critical-deliberative model for both public and private universities.
University; Historical models; Estate; Public