The Ecuadorian university system has suffered relevant and profound transformations that invite us to reflect on reality. Considering this concise preamble, a paper is developed with a theoretic approximation to the most relevant changes to the university governance in Ecuador, as its primary goal. In order to achieve this central purpose, secondary sources are recourse, mainly constituted by academic articles and the respective norms; it is therefore an exploratory and descriptive paper. It is concluded that studying Latin-American university governance is imperative, in order to improve quality standards and to face the XXI century challenges; elements that seem to have inspired university reforms in Ecuador.