The relevance of the study is conditioned by the development of civil society and legal state, which are characterized by the observance of and respect for the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, a recognition of individual freedom and the values of each person. The purpose of this article is to develop practical recommendations on formation of students' tolerant behavior in universities. The leading approach of the study is existential approach which allows to consider process of formation of tolerant behavior as personal development, who is conscious of the uniqueness of each person, understands the meaning of free choice and responsibility, recognizes the objectivity of the relationship with other people who searches for life values and understands the meaning of his or her own life. The study involved 400 teachers, 500 students, which revealed the criteria of tolerant behavior. Main results of the research consist in the characterization of tolerant behavior as a systemic integrity of qualities and abilities of the person providing the formation of orientation on the assimilation and implementation of social norm of mutual understanding and constructive cooperation with other people and formation of readiness to recognition, sustainability and conscious actions on the basis of consent and social partnership; identifying of situational-discrete and permanent-prolonged forms of education of students' tolerant behavior, providing real assistance in specific problem situations and continuous support during the whole study at the University. The significance of the results obtained is that the compiled characteristics of tolerant behavior allows to allocate in its structure the subjectivity characterizing the person's ability to interact with others, constructive actions in the border situations and responsibility for their own choice; sociality, manifested in the models of social and steady behavior; being educated, which provides the process of purposeful influence on the person to form the active-effective state of acceptance of other people, and himself. The identified forms in upbringing of tolerant behavior contribute to the formation of focus on the model of tolerant behavior, determined by legal and social norms; effective social and professional interaction taking into account ethno-cultural and confessional differences.