This study aims to explore the attitudes of university professors to the determining factors of employment satisfaction as regards salary, functional security, empowerment, relationships and social value. To achieve the objectives of this study, the researchers constructed a questionnaire consisting of 28 questions in order to collect primary data from the study sample, which consisted of 150 university professors at private and governmental universities. The researcher distributed 150 questionnaires, of which 120 were returned. These questionnaires were validated for statistical analysis. The most important results were as follows: - There are no significant differences between the members of the academic staff who work in the private or governmental universities in Syria concerning: salary and remunerations; relationships with colleagues; relationship with management, and empowerment. - There are significant differences between them concerning: their relationship with students; job security and social value. - This study had also proved that the priorities of the academic staff about factors causative of satisfaction vary relating to the university sector (governmental or private). . .