In an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable environment, the higher education system’s adherence to general trends in the development of economic and social spheres must be considered as an organizational response to external challenges and pressure. Assessing the capabilities of universities to address these issues becomes critical. The university education system must provide an academic environment conducive to the development of new generations of business founders, as entrepreneurship education increases opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes to transform ideas into action. In the study, the authors posed the problem of studying the modern management model of a university – identifying the main development trends and performance assessment indicators. The authors use the works of leading Russian and foreign scientists who have studied the development of educational organizations of higher education, materials from federal projects and programs. The reference model for the activities of a modern university is the entrepreneurial model, however, there are a number of trends characteristic of universities that do not choose development along an entrepreneurial vector. The authors consider the need to introduce talent management practices that involve the reform of the traditional HR service into a modern HR department dealing with the issues of attracting, developing and evaluating personnel as important recommendations for the formation of a management model for universities. Also, the main activity of a modern university is the presence of multidimensional channels of interaction with the external environment – industrial partners, authorities at various levels, and other universities.