Abstract: The concept of publicness is very complex, integrating the meaning of non-profitableness, openness, equality and sharing. Modern university is a representative of institutions with remarkable publicness. In the construction of the governance system of modern university, a joint structure should be built to reflect its nature. Such a governance structure takes the participatory democracy as the breakthrough, the reform of government functions as forerunner, the implementation of university statutes as the starting point, and the concept of governing by law as the mechanism to adjust the relationship between government, university, society and market in the co-governance of University. That is to say, the publicness of university is the inherent requirements for the establishment of the governance structure of modern university. And such publicness should be guaranteed through the promotion of the value of university co-governance, the design of management system and relevant law-making.