The article deals with the financial support of higher education development in Ukraine and the UK. It presents the expenditure of the consolidated budget on education between 2007 and 2017 in Ukraine and the expenditure on education services per student in the UK. It highlights the funding of research in higher education in Ukraine. It describes the personnel potential of higher education institutions in Ukraine. It specifies the existing problems in the research sector of higher education in Ukraine. It indicates that research activities of the UK universities are at a high level since about one-third of research done by the UK universities is regarded as leading in the context of the world's research community. The article also considers the salaries of teachers and lecturers in different regions of the UK. Based on theoretical analysis of scientific and pedagogical sources one can conclude that teacher salary in the UK is quite high and differentiated. In addition, they employ other ways to differentiate teacher salary there. Indeed, teachers receive praise for their own professional growth and practice through a dialogue with their leader. It is found that the UK universities receive financial support from the funds administered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (except for colleges of further education). The expenditure on higher education per student in the UK is significantly higher than that in Ukraine. Due to the fact that salary differentiation stimulates teacher work, this important indicator must be implemented in Ukraine.