The purpose of this article is to analyze the content of mission statements of Spanish public universities and explore two questions: firstly, whether missions differ according to the date they were drawn up, and second, whether their discourse reflects new public management policies proposed by the government. The study covered 47 public universities, which were divided into two groups according to their creation date: pre and post 1985. The mission statements were collected from official university websites. Results showed that universities generally prioritized teaching over research and service to society. This was more noticeable in newly created universities. Both groups of universities presented a classic management model.