Education

Science and research

Students and science

Connecting Education and Science

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We can still hear relatively often that what students learn at a university cannot sometimes be connected with real practice and with the area that development and science deals with in the respective field. Is it really so?

photo: sxc.hu

The necessity to maintain intensive trilateral cooperation between education, science and real practice (production) is fortunately understood very well by all the involved parties. With regards to the state, the controlling activity is the "National Politics of Research, Development and Innovations", the first stage of which was realized in 2004 - 2008 and the second stage will last from this year till 2015. The strategy not only specifies the priority directions of research, but it also tries to reinforce effectively our economy, specifically by building links and activities in the fields where it is the most desirable.
Beside the basic strategic view there is a number of particular activities connecting science and studies. For secondary-school students and their teachers, the project entitled "Open Science" was compiled as well as its actual successor "Science Open to Regions". Universities (particularly the technical ones) have cooperated for a long time, both with scientific institutions and with the production sector. Cooperation happens in particular at the level of actual grant programs. The programs are announced both by grant departments or agencies of individual schools, and the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences itself.
The Academy of Sciences announces scientific programs particularly in connection with doctoral studies. The specialized centre which moves connection of education and science towards production is the Technology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic which prepared the analytic and prospective studies in the areas of research, development and innovations and it deals with international transfer of technologies.
Further cooperation at the level of research and studies is often catalyzed directly by the needs of large industrial companies. One of the best-known examples is the activity of Škoda Auto Vysoká škola which trains specialists participating , among other things, in research and development in our largest automobile company.
Therefore we can say that connecting education and science exists and it is the everyday practice of life at universities. Also involvement of secondary-school students into scientific activities is positive.

Sources of information and useful references
- Project entitled "Opened Science" http://www.otevrena-veda.cz/ov/
- Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic http://www.avcr.cz/
- The National Policy of Research and Development http://www.vyzkum.cz/FrontClanek.aspx?idsekce=5579
- Škoda Auto Vysoká škola http://new.skoda-auto.com/company/cze/savs/Pages/hp_tabstrips.aspx?uniqueurlid=806e8f1e-fda3-4401-8d51-90b32f745168
- Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic http://www.gaav.cz
- Technology Centre of the Academy of Sciences http://www.tc.cz