This article considers the adoption of Western neoliberalism in Taiwan's higher education (HE) governance as a hybridisation process in which the influences of political democratisation, social liberalisation and Chinese cultural traditions intersect with contemporary Western norms and values. The paper draws on data from interviews with senior university administrators and education ministry officials to delineate the resistance to the competitive ethos embedded in neoliberalism and the retention of state presence and intervention in university governance, highlighting Taiwan's historical, socio-political and cultural contexts. This account exemplifies how various historical, socio-political and cultural factors influence Taiwan's HE governance and how Western norms and values are absorbed, questioned and resisted during the hybridisation process.