16 Dec 2020
The three-year programme – with the option of a fourth year to gain an honours qualification – will allow students to achieve RVN status and a licence to practice.
Rachael Buzzel
Job Title
Students will gain clinical experience in Scotland’s Rural College’s new VN Skills Centre.
A new veterinary nursing degree at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) in Aberdeen aims to help improve access to training and progression within the sector.
The three-year BSc Veterinary Nursing programme – with the option of a fourth year to gain an honours qualification – will allow students to achieve an RCVS VN registration and a licence to practice.
The course, which will start in September 2021, is being offered in addition to the veterinary care assistant (VCA) course introduced by the veterinary and animal science department in 2020.
From April 2021, a professional development award will also be offered via distance learning. This three-unit bridging programme will cover communications, veterinary terminology and animal biology, and is aimed at VCA students, or those with alternative appropriate qualifications, wishing to progress on to degree level.
The focus of the BSc degree is on small animal veterinary nursing care, with some aspects of exotic, wildlife and large animal nursing.
Students will gain clinical experience through practical activities taught on campus in the new veterinary nursing skills centre and a work-based placement with an approved training practice.
The honours year will build on the skills and competencies embedded in the first three years, and will develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of a range of subjects, including the psychology and physiology of pain, animal ethics, welfare and genetics.
Neil Foster, head of the veterinary and animal science department, said: “At SRUC we pride ourselves on developing graduates who are ready for the workplace.
“These new programmes help to fulfil the BVA’s ‘vet-led team model’ by providing qualified veterinary assistants and nurses to enhance the work of veterinary surgeons.”
For more information about the new courses, visit the SRUC website.
