Given the diverse environmental contexts of universities worldwide there is a need for a theoretical orientation that addresses the entrepreneurial university in a range of settings. Applying the institutional perspective this research explores how universities are strongly influenced by, as well as active influencers in, their surrounding environment. To do this, we examine case narratives of two universities in each of the following countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, the UK, and the U.S. Analysis focuses on five entrepreneurial dimensions as defined by Nelles and Vorley (2010a): Structures, Systems, Leadership, Strategies, and Culture while examining the impact of regional and national context at regulative, normative, and cognitive levels of analysis. We address two research questions: How do universities interact with their institutional context in developing entrepreneurially and what actors and forces are most important in motivating institutional change in developing a university's entrepreneurial architecture?