Abstract Analyses and international comparisons of university organisational cultures are rare or even non-existing in management studies. Our paper fills this gap, presenting the results of a pilot study conducted in two units representing a Polish and a Dutch university. The survey has been carried out on a basis of a model and a measuring tool created by the Dutch researcher Aldert P. Dreimüller. Using two dimensions of change tolerance vs. control; and internal vs. external orientation he proposed a typology of four organisational cultures: task, aim, team and process culture. Each type is described with the same set of criteria. The types identified in the course of our survey are interpreted through the lens of the national cultures of the Netherlands and Poland. However, the main result of the study, and thus the main aim of this paper, is a multi-faceted usage and test of the Dreimüller’s tool.