The paper proposes a review of the experience of a well-known federal university in the formation of intellectual capital. The main emphasis is placed on the systematization of conceptual global, all-Russian and regional trends that a modern university needs to take into account when developing a partnership strategy with stakeholders. The generation of the society`s intellectual capital is one of the key issues of survival in unstable socio-economic conditions. The formation of intellectual capital is the so-called «third» mission of the university after educational and upbringing. This process has always been considered basic, «deep» for all areas of university activity. In the first part of the paper, it is proposed to consider the identification of the role and specifics of intellectual capital. Features of the formation of intellectual capital are associated both with the global influences of the non-linear world and with «environmental» parameters. The symbiosis of these factors of total and local impact creates the basis for understanding the development paths of a modern university in line with the evolution of intellectual capital, which is developed in those educational systems that are most adequate to the «spirit» of the era. The components of the «phenomenon» of intellectual capital are analyzed, its significance for socio-economic relations is revealed, three levels of influence (global, all-Russian, regional) on the formation of intellectual capital are systematized. The second part of the paper discusses the basic activities of the Ural Federal University (UrFU) to maintain a high level of intellectual capital as a factor of sustainability in an unstable environment. These directions are systematized according to the «levels» of the above trends of influence.