For the most part, the concept of the “national university” possess significant overlaps with the public/state, civic, and flagship university. Toward enriching the conceptual toolkit of higher education, this study explores what has been meant by a 'national university' and how could we identify such an organization empirically. Through a thematic analysis of a digital corpus in English, the study identifies four substantive themes that characterize the national university as it was articulated during the formative period of the nation-state. The core themes of such a concept include functioning as a tool for state development in terms of human capital, cultural identity, and social networks; serving as a nation’s most advanced learning institution; providing meritocratic higher education without discrimination and in consideration of subnational divisions; and possessing a definite link with the central government. Comparing these findings with closely related organizational models in higher education, a key difference of the national university is in its role in articulating a national identity through providing advanced education that is particularly inclusive of subnational divisions. The paper further forwards two contrasting empirical approaches to the national university: a historical–legal de jure approach and a sociocultural de facto approach.