University teachers of economic disciplines and practice - a needed synergy?

This article reports on an exploratory study, conducted at a number of universities in the Czech Republic during 2008-09, on the perception of the value of industry placement for academics in economic disciplines. An industry placement requires an academic to be seconded to a relevant industry host organisation for a predetermined period of time to undertake agreed-to specific tasks. The main aims of this study were to gather information about the perceptions that Czech academics would place on an industry placement experience, and to test validity of a theoretical model of teacher placement in industry which is based on communities of practice as described by Lave and Wenger. The results suggest that the Czech academics would like to undertake such placements and the model of teacher placement in industry is relevant for the Czech environment and should be investigated further. Also, the model could be used for policy recommendations on various levels – for tertiary education reform preparations, university officials and industry.