The idea of academic freedoms was the basis of the prestige of the university until the beginning of the 20th century. Their limitation in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century became a “sign of the times” (signum temporis). However, it was the idea of a university that was and remains the basis for the prestige confirmed in the Magna Charta of Universitatum Europaeum (1988). In the author’s opinion, the Bologna Declaration (1999) caused the effect of averaging and “pop-academicism” of the 21st century. This was due to the following determinants: professionalization, state control, bureaucratization, institutionalization, collectivization and ideologization, theatralization, productivization, economization, and standardization. As a result, university management began to resemble a game due to too many conditions or the amplitude of changes in their meaning. The author illustrates this on the example of theatralization and productivization of the university. Theatricalization transformed the academic teacher into a figure of homo publicus or the so-called public intellectual (hired smart guy). On the other hand, the factor of time and the resulting tradition remain a stable element of the university’s prestige. The text contains references to the situation of Ukrainian universities, which in some cases have over 200 years of tradition. The conclusion includes a suggestion to support the university by a stable educational policy of the state, because the alternative will be to continue the game in conditions of variable frequency of the rules of its conduct. Losses will then occur mainly in the sphere of the prestige of the university and the prestige of academic teachers. Too many variable factors in the sphere of the university’s functioning strategy make it impossible to manage it rationally and force it to play a specific game.