The experience of professional education of Russian students under the conditions of the educational cluster is analyzed. Educational cluster is a relatively new kind of the educational consolidation, united by the industry sector principle, of secondary and tertiary educational institutions, created in order to increase the competitiveness of their graduates. What advantages, in comparison with the conventional education, does cluster education have? What are the features of the cluster-based education? Those are the questions that haunt the majority of the specialists, studying vocational education in Russia. The authors of the article tried to answer these, and relative, questions and in this lies the topicality of the article.

The aim of the creation of the educational clusters are defined. The advantages of cluster-based education in comparison with the conventional education system are revealed. The Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering -based educational cluster is dealt with in this article. The article says how the cluster influenced the professional training in civil engineering. The change of approach to creation the flexible curricula is shown. The data over six years; concerning; training of relative specialties, training at KNAUF company training center, created under the aegis of Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering; are given.

The article may seem to be useful to scholars, studying vocational training, as well as to future employers, concerned about quality of graduates.