14 May 2025
Students have warned they could be “professionally displaced” by a lack of clarity over its North American accreditation status.
A group of RVC students has warned they are at risk of being left “professionally displaced” because of uncertainty over its North American accreditation.
The college says it is “actively seeking” to restore its status with the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) by next spring.
But, following the recent announcement that principal Stuart Reid would be staying at the college, the row has deepened as an online petition claimed students were at risk of being penalised by “accreditation politics”.
The change.org campaign fears the row could ultimately prevent American and Canadian students from practising in North America after graduation and leave them unable to practise anywhere without a visa.
It continued: “This situation could leave us professionally displaced, with no clear path forward unless we pursue an alternative accreditation pathway.”
The issue originates from the AVMA’s move to downgrade the RVC’s accreditation to “probationary” status because of its failure to reach expected standards in the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE).
Association rules state that at least 80% of accredited colleges’ students who sit the exam are expected to have passed when they graduate. The RVC had a 60% pass rate in 2023-24.
If that level is not reached, further assessments are undertaken with institutions moved to probationary accreditation if they fail to reach required confidence interval levels in two successive years.
The petition, which has already attracted nearly 600 signatures since its launch in the wake of the 2 May announcement on Prof Reid’s future, demands greater transparency from both the RVC and AVMA, the inclusion of students in relevant talks and assurances that students will not be penalised by the outcome of the accreditation process during their courses.
It also claimed the association had not granted the RVC a “terminal year” if full accreditation is not restored in a decision it described as “a departure from established precedent”.
It added: “We are now being asked to bear the burden of accreditation politics while having no voice in the process.
“We believe it is unjust that students who enrolled under one set of expectations now face potential limitations due to administrative or procedural decisions, particularly when precedent has shown that students at other schools would have been protected under similar circumstances.”
Both the RVC and AVMA have been approached for comment, though neither has yet provided a response.
However, the college’s website said it was “actively seeking to regain full accreditation which it must do by April 2026”.
It also insisted the college was “committed to ensuring ongoing support” for students who want to take the NAVLE, including a 12-week support programme and the adoption of the International Council for Veterinary Assessment’s (ICA) Veterinary Education Assessment (VEA) to help students better prepare for the exam.
According to published listings, four UK vet schools – Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Nottingham – currently enjoy full AVMA accreditation. The RVC is one of two UK schools in the probationary category, along with Glasgow.
