The relevance of the research topic lies in the need to stimulate the processes of sustainable development of higher education in developing countries. Ensuring such development requires careful study of advanced European experience, identification of bestpractices tested by EU universities. The purpose of the article is to study trends in stimulating the development of Europeanhigher education institutions based on the principles of sustainability in order to identify opportunities for implementing the experience of European universities and to identify potential obstacles that stand in the way of ensuring sustainable development in the higher education system at the current stage. To achieve the goal of the article, general scientific and specific methods of knowledge were used: the dialectical method (establishing the relationship between the improvement of university activities and sustainable development), comparative analysis (comparing the experience of EU universities in implementing the SustainableDevelopment Goals), synthesis and systematization (determining the prospects for using the experience of European higher education institutions by universities of developing countries), abstraction and generalization (justification of research results andidentification of barriers to ensuring sustainable development of higher education). The article analyzes the activities of the member states of the European Union in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals with an emphasis on SDG 4 “Quality Education”. The actors studied the European experience of the development of higher education institutions according to the principles of sustainability. On thebasis of the conducted research, in the conclusions, the scientists formulated ways of further development of universities according to the concept of sustainable development in the EU countries.