Cambridge vet degree reprieved by RCVS

Bosses of a major UK veterinary degree programme have been given more time to complete the improvements needed to meet RCVS accreditation standards.

The college’s education committee has granted conditional accreditation to the University of Cambridge vet school programme for a further year following a meeting yesterday (25 November).

A further inspection is now set to take place next October in a move officials hope will ensure the progress made to date continues “at pace”.

In doubt

The course’s future was plunged into doubt almost a year ago when a report concluded it was barely meeting a third of the college’s 77 accreditation standards.

A college statement, issued after the meeting, said 20 of the 55 recommendations made in that document remained outstanding.

But it added that many others had either been met or had “significant progress” made towards meeting them.

‘Considerable efforts’

A college spokesperson said: “We appreciate the considerable efforts and hard work that the staff team within the veterinary department at Cambridge university have put into rectifying many of the issues identified in the 2024 accreditation event, for taking on board the constructive advice that was given and working together to make many of the necessary improvements.

“However, there are still several outstanding areas of concern, and so the education committee agreed that it was not yet in a position to grant Cambridge’s veterinary degree full accreditation.

“We have collaborated with Cambridge on putting together an action plan and timeline for meeting the 20 remaining recommendations and we hope that it will continue on its current trajectory towards meeting the RCVS accreditation standards.”

Further coverage will be in Vet Times 55.48.