Educational cluster as a form of social partnership

The relevance of the article is determined by the requirements of the present, where education is becoming an important component of the socio-economic growth of the country and requires a high level of professional competence. Based on the experience of European countries, it is substantiated that, in ensuring the quality of training of specialists and the level of their competitiveness, the cluster approach, which is promising for education in the conditions of management decentralization, is of particular importance. In the article the concept of a cluster is revealed, its characteristic features, the essence of the concept «educational cluster» is analyzed and its place is established in the system of professional (vocational-technical) education. The main advantages and principles of the cluster approach in the development of vocational (vocational-technical) education are revealed; the principles that are fundamental for the creation and operation of clusters are formulated. It is determined that the modern cluster approach involves multilevel governance, cooperation of subjects of different industries and creation of favorable environment for cooperation and development. The example of education, which is only gained by the experience of entrepreneurship, shows that the cluster approach is the union of educational institutions with business structures and civil society entities (social organization, political parties, etc.) on the relevant legal framework. Considering the issues of educational clusters, as one of the forms of social partnership, it has been found that important conditions are: equality, transparency and trust between partners. It is established that the cluster development of the country's economy is one of the characteristic features of the modern innovative economy and has significant advantages for vocational education. Among the main ones are: improving the quality of training; development of new learning technologies; ensuring the continuity and accessibility of the educational process; testing of acquired knowledge in practice; independent evaluation of the quality of teaching, the level of teaching, the quality of curricula and materials. Taking into account the experience of European countries, examples of educational cluster institutions are given, a comparative analysis is made, which made it possible to conclude that in Ukraine, as a rule, educational innovation clusters combine: higher education institutions (they are their core) with research centers and businesses; Vocational educational institutions and institutions united by industry and partnership with industry enterprises; educational establishments and enterprises of employers providing quality improvement, shortening of training periods, creation of a flexible system of professional development of specialists for enterprises, taking into account current and forecast production requirements. The concept of the clustering process is clarified and investigated on the example of the system of vocational (vocational-technical) education. Despite the multifaceted nature of educational clusters, including as a form of social partnership, the issues of creating a dual corporate model of association of employers, vocational (vocational-technical) education and scientific institutions remain to be solved in order to improve the quality of specialist training and provision their competitiveness.