The article is devoted to the problem of the formation of motivation for teaching students of higher education institutions in Ukraine. The authors consider the problem of forming students' motivation from two perspectives - psychological and philosophical. The psychological approach is used to analyze internal motivation, and the philosophical one to analyze external motivation and the influence of external factors on the formation of values in students and teachers, which also affect the motivation to learn. The four phases of the economic development of society and the types of universities that are formed in each phase are analyzed. University 1.0 in the pre-industrial phase, University 2.0 in the industrial phase, University 3.0 in the post-industrial phase and University 4.0 in the cognitive phase. Although universities have developed pedagogical methods for teaching in higher education, a gap has recently arisen between a student and a university. Proven techniques do not show already familiar high results. There is a need for the restructuring of teaching methods, programs and the universities themselves. This shows the main trends in the development of society and the characteristics of new universities, as well as the main pedagogical methods of increasing motivation among students. The goal of the new university is to train specialists in the project attitude to the world, in the broad sense of entrepreneurs and engineers (including financial, cultural, social. Creating an open learning environment with the possibility of implementing individual learning paths. In addition to classrooms, libraries and laboratories, necessary business incubators, design offices, and platforms for communication with the outside world - exhibition centers. Only after overcoming isolation from pressing problems for society is the standardized, “subjectless” educational process and introducing the discipline into the curriculum to form an “entrepreneurial culture”, the student will receive reasons for motivation to study at the university.