Nowadays, the Russian educational institutions, especially higher educational
institutions, face a serious challenge in adapting their strategy to the new environmental
conditions and developing a strategy for sustainable development. In paper the prospects of
implementing programs in the sphere of resource saving at the university are estimated. The
article presents the results of surveys, observations, expert interviews. The conducted
researches allowed the authors to collect empirical data about the environmental attitude and
ecological behavior of the main university’s stakeholders (employees, students, prospective
applicants), as well as make economic calculations and identify opportunities for reducing the
costs of the university in key areas of pollution (light, water, garbage)