The article considers the influence of education on the formation of a qualitative component of human capital in rural areas.

The current state of educational training of the rural population is being assessed.  The main root causes of the low share of residents of rural settlements with higher education have been identified.  It is proved that the low level of prestige of agricultural work is almost the main factor that prevents young people from choosing agricultural education and stimulates them after graduation - to work in other sectors of the economy.

It is established that the relatively low educational level of the rural population of Ukraine is due not only to limited access to general secondary and higher education, but also to the constant migration losses of the most active part of young people who go to cities for higher education and try to stay there.

An assessment of the current state of scientific work of institutions of higher education in agriculture. The root causes of low activity in attracting private investment in the development of innovative products have been identified.

It is established that the current financial support of innovation in higher education institutions does not correspond to the real possibilities of their scientific potential.  This situation limits the development and effectiveness of innovation, as well as the prospects for its commercialization.

On the basis of generalization of foreign and domestic experience of higher education institutions of agrarian profile the forms of development of public-private partnership of higher education institution with agrarian business are offered.

The root causes of the reluctance of scientists of higher education institutions to engage in the development of innovative products for the needs of business entities in the field of agribusiness have been clarified.

In order to form an entrepreneurial environment in agricultural universities, it is necessary to create conditions under which scientists will have the opportunity to develop innovative projects based on infrastructure support, namely: jobs, expert advice, opportunities to communicate with the business community. In the university - is the formation of a single educational research and innovation space, which will involve departments, research laboratories and small innovative enterprises created with the participation of scientists of the departments, as well as students, graduate students and doctoral students.

The necessity of forming a system of intensive human education on the basis of mass retraining both at the expense of personal human resources and at the expense of social investments of business groups is substantiated, which will allow to support the continuous process of "lifelong learning".

Key words: human capital, sustainable development, rural areas, expanded reproduction, socio-economic instruments, education, innovation infrastructure.