Since the 1970s,governance has come into people's view more out of research needs.The difficulties faced by modern countries in developing public utilities have led the academic com-munity to introduce governance theory and analytical frameworks.The interdisciplinary nature of gov-ernance research enables it to be transferred to university organizations,leading to the emergence of governance discourse.When governance becomes a"fashion"in the policy context,what we need to pay most attention to is the cognitive form of the entire society towards university governance.The rise of the internet society and the popularization of modern information technology have accelerated the symbolization of university reputation,and everyone is eager to use precise management methods and popular theories to generate performance.When the demand for governance goes beyond"gov-ernability",the symbolic meaning of university governance goes beyond its true value.The true role of governance for universities lies in whether they can connect with knowledge from innovation orga-nizations,only by enhancing organizational learning and institutional innovation capabilities can we reshape the quality of university governance.