In this article, the author tries to conceptualize and analyze the educational factor in realizing the national interests of a state. The author applies the method of analytic eclecticism for education complex analysis in the frames of different theoretical concepts. In the system of national interests priorities the author offers to consider the system of education in the context of three interdependent factors: as an instrument of national security; as a main factor for social and economic development; as a mean of political influence (soft power).
