Improvement of master's programs in the area of construction for teaching skills of innovative thinking

The article reveals the need to improve master's programs in the scientific field of Construction. The relevance and demand of new master's courses is conditioned by the transition of the world economy to a new technological era. New training modules help students to form innovative thinking, professional and social competencies, and skills of self-organization for creative work. The innovative potential of graduate master’s work is analyzed in the article. It is shown that there is a real possibility to bring the results of master’s research work to innovation under condition of corresponding modifications in master's programs. Brief description of content of a single cycle of new training courses on methods of innovation in construction: “Functional-value analysis” (ABC-analysis), “Theory of solving inventive problems”, “experiment planning” and “Patent Science” is given. New courses are implemented in the framework of the current master’s program. The courses are linked in a single cycle through the logics of the Master's research work and study assignments. The criteria of the educational project success are given: the number of applications for inventions and articles, and the number of enrolled in post-graduate education. The place of the new courses in the existing educational process and the competency is determined. Potential partners of the educational project and their possible functions in the project are considered. One of the functions is the creation of the actual list of relevant issues in the construction industry to be solved in the master’s research work. At that, the preference is given to socially significant problems.