The relevance of the work caused by the intensive development of modern higher education diversification and by the necessity to understand these processes, including their understanding from the point of view of their social aspects. Today the improvement of the national system of higher education is associated with the emergence and development of new directions of education development, among which an important place is given to diversification. Diversification of higher education will provide a new vector of developing the system itself: its flexibility, accessibility, ability to react to any changes in the sphere of conditions in the labor market, etc. Diversification of higher education should be considered as an alternative to traditional education in terms of improving the educational process, when the conditions are created not only for accumulation and expansion of basic knowledge, experience, methods, cognitive, practical and social activities, but also for creative and social development of the individual. The effectiveness of implementing higher professional education diversification is impossible without a comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon, including the analysis from the point of view of its social preconditions, social consequences, social development priorities in modern conditions. The main aim of the study is to identify sociocultural reasons that have triggered the development of modern processes of diversification, and systematization of the social aspects of the diversification of higher education in modern conditions. The methods used in the study: methods of theoretical analysis of the philosophical, sociological and pedagogical literature, methods of system analysis. The results. The author has revealed social prerequisites of higher education diversification in modern conditions; has identified and systematized social consequences of higher education diversification; has determined the diversification priorities in education.