The construction of an organization aims to enhance the performance and versatility of the organization for society. Consequently, as a platform for training human resources, universities have to develop constantly, following the community's insistence. In 2022, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology specified there are 21 state universities with legal entities. The status of a state university with a legal entity presents extensive autonomy in the field of academic, asset, and financial management. Besides, the universities also carry an obligation for university management to develop their institution, which is in accordance with Formal Model of Educational Management by Bush (2011). This model implies that organizations have a hierarchical structure and that predefined goals are pursued using a reasonable way. This study aims to identify the dominant variables for the state university with legal entity development. The method that used in this study is literature review by Tranfield, Denyer, & Smart (2003) with a case analysis involving a number of universities. The analysis results found that the dominant variables in the universities' development included the organization structure, working mechanism or organizational guidelines, the organizational climate and culture, along with the use of technology devices.