Abstract: There is a coupling between the funding sources and the management concept in universities. Different funding sources lead to different management concepts: the state financial investment and the government's value goals form the management concept of "maintaining" stability in state-owned universities; the pursuit of return by private capital forms the management concept of cost compression in private universities. State-owned universities tend to maintain the existing order, "no fault is a success"; private universities pay more attention to cost saving, "no merit is a failure". The avoidance of "fault" makes it easy for state-owned universities to produce "conspiracy" and "fraud" of stakeholders; the pursuit of "merit" makes it easier for private universities to move towards "formalism". De-administration of state-owned universities and classified management of private universities are conducive to breaking the limitations of management concept between state-owned universities and private universities. With the desalination of public-private duality, the gap of management concepts will gradually narrow.