Universities see a need for major changes in their organisational structures and functioning to be able to respond adequately to current social expectations. A greater provision of funds and an increase of university autonomy are priorities of today’s university policy. This article presents the results of relating excellence and autonomy through data from the Academic Ranking of World Universities of the University of Shanghai and the indicators developed by the European University Association for four types of university autonomy: organisational, academic, staffing and financial.