Higher education and universities have transformed due to the evolution of knowledge-based societies. This also led to the rise and growth of the “entrepreneurial university” concept. Factors that promote entrepreneurial universities include funding, self-reliance, academic freedom, better linkage to industry, innovation, provide employment, and promote social and economic development. Hence, worldwide, entrepreneurial universities are increasingly recognized as an important constituent to tackle fiscal and employment issues. However various reports and studies reflect that entrepreneurial universities have not achieved these objectives. That may be due to the challenges and lack of critical success factors (CSFs) understanding to be entrepreneurial university. Hence, adopting an exploratory approach with a systematic literature review this paper intends to focus on the challenges of entrepreneurial universities and identifies the CSFs to thrive as entrepreneurial universities, and provides recommendations to succeed as entrepreneurial universities.