Society is interested in achieving vocational qualification balancing of the labor market and education market. Capacity building in the field of higher education should take into account the interests of the individual, society and schools. The purpose of the article is to clarify the nature and providing a definition of "social and economic potential of higher school" using a systematic approach. The following methods of scientific knowledge have been used in the article: logical generalization; existential semantic; abstraction and system analysis. The approaches to the study of the nature and definition of "social and economic potential of higher school" have been analyzed. It has been proved that the social and economic potential of high school is a synergistic set of social and economic potential of higher education institutions (hereinafter - institutions) (operating in a competitive environment), which is capable of producing educational and scientific products of appropriate quality, quantity and variety, with a view to satisfying existing and future social needs in the reconstruction of the intellectual capital of the country. Scientific novelty consists in determining the social and economic potential of the university as a resource system that consists of combining possibilities of Universities that meet licensing and accreditation requirements and can provide a competitive advantage in the market, and the motives and attitudes of economic actors in its internal and external environment, the impact of which is displayed on the effectiveness of achieving the objectives of the university. The practical significance is to substantiate the thesis that the social and economic potential of higher school is a synergetic set of social and economic potential of Universities (operating in a competitive environment), which is capable of producing educational and scientific products of appropriate quality, quantity and variety, with a view to satisfying existing and future social needs in the reconstruction of the intellectual capital of the country. The results make it possible to carry out further studies in detail the components of the potential of higher education, determining the specifics of its formation, the development of methods of evaluation.