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The article analyzes the spatial distribution of universities in the metropolitan area of Madrid (Communauté autonome de Madrid). The Spanish capital, which has the largest number of universities in Spain, saw the number of its universities grow from one to fifteen in just forty years. In this recent regional university system, new universities, especially private universities, chose to locate in the periphery of the metropolitan area. In contrast, the development of the public university is designed in the logic of regional and metropolitan consolidation. The dispersion of universities in Madrid occurs in the context of increased competition between universities because of a new excellence policy and the decreasing number of students, but is also marked by the absence of academic planning at the metropolitan level.