BVA Council Debates New Vet School Policy

There has been much debate regarding new vet schools including was presented to council. The draft had been developed by the Education Subgroup of BVA’s Members Services Group, on which AVS were represented. There was broad agreement with most of the policy and the concerns on the profession about graduate employment, availability of EMS and impacts on education. AVS President Alex McGhee did however share a number of concerns about the policy. The first was that making student aware of other career options was not a ‘silver bullet’ as most students already knew of these options already but didn’t necessarily want to take them. On this point BVA President assured him that this was aimed more at those who are unhappy in the profession but don’t feel they have other options.

The draft also stated that it would be “unconstructive to try to stop progress” however Alex stated that ‘It is perhaps not entirely beneficial to rule out the idea of being against rapid rises in the number of graduates simply because we can’t stop it. There are possibly various things that the BVA can’t stop,’ he said, ‘but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not opposed to it.

BVA council decided not to approve the current draft, to incorporate a clear statement about concerns surrounding the increase in veterinary undergraduate places, and the potential implications for the quality of veterinary teaching and the future of the profession and seek approval from AVS before returning a new draft for BVA council approval.