Cambridge vet students’ reaction over farm animal service closure

Representatives of the University of Cambridge’s veterinary students have warned of a “concerning trend” in veterinary education following the closure of its farm animal veterinary service.

Cambridge announced in August its farm service would close on 4 September after consultation with staff, union representatives and students, with seven staff made redundant as a result.

In a statement, the university said the closure would not affect farm teaching to years one through five, while sixth-year farm animal clinical rotational teaching will now be delivered in partnership with an external provider.

Hard fight

Former Cambridge University Veterinary Society (CUVS) president Rudi Bruijn-Yard, who participated in discussions regarding the changes, said: “Our student representatives fought hard to find a way to retain our farm clinic, and we were grateful for the opportunity to stand up and represent our interests in continuing to receive world-class, six-species teaching.

“The changes reflect a concerning trend in veterinary education that robust, local six-species training is being replaced by outsourced models because of rising costs and the increasing requirement for specialist and referral level knowledge which a smaller caseload cannot support.”

The sixth-year student – part of the first cohort to be directly impacted by the change – pointed to the possible introduction of conditional licensure and the “threat” of moving toward single-species training.

‘Detract enormously’

Mr Bruijn-Yard added: “This would detract enormously from what I see as the benefit and privilege of being a veterinary surgeon – the ability to understand and provide at least primary care to all species that we might encounter.

“I hope that the community as a whole will continue to support institutions to provide the best quality of teaching across all areas.

“I would like to express my immense gratitude to the farm staff who have been supportive educators throughout my clinical journey.”

The university said the new external provider model will offer students “a larger, more consistent and more varied farm animal caseload, enhancing their learning opportunities”. But the BVA said it wanted more detail on how Cambridge would continue ensuring its qualifying vets all meet RCVS’ day-one competencies.

Accreditation standards

The RCVS’ visitation panel will inspect Cambridge’s vet school in late October to determine whether it is meeting RCVS’ accreditation standards.

RCVS’ education committee extended conditional accreditation to the degree programme for another year last November, after finding 20 of its recommendations for the institution were still outstanding.

In a statement, CUVS said it would continue to advocate for students amid the implementation of the new teaching model.

It said: “In response to recently proposed changes to the veterinary programme, CUVS has collected concerns, objectives and questions from students across the six years, and we have presented them formally to the department.

“We will work collaboratively with the department to ensure that any aspects of proposed changes which enhance educational quality can be realised, while advocating for students and ensuring their concerns are heard.”