New Scottish vet school is on the cards

Plans are being drawn up which could see the creation of the first new school of veterinary medicine in Scotland for more than 150 years.

With Edinburgh and Glasgow being home to world-famous establishments, SRUC, Scotland’s rural college hopes its new facility near Aberdeen will soon be able to offer courses in veterinary medicine ranging from Higher National Diploma to postgraduate degree level.

One of the biggest employers of veterinary professionals in Europe, the college already trains vet nurses and said that, with a national network of veterinary hubs and consulting offices, it would be able to provide a solid basis for a distributed model of learning

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Principal and chief executive, Professor Wayne Powell said that the SRUC hopes to offer a core veterinary programme to address shortages in the profession, in areas such as rural veterinary practice, food production, food safety and animal and public health.

He said a working group was being established to progress the plans under the chairmanship of Professor Sir Pete Downes, former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee.

An independent economic report produced for SRUC claimed that a new vet school could add £26 million GVA and 242 jobs to Scotland by 2030.

Linda Prescott-Clements, director of education at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), said, “The RCVS looks forward to working with the team at SRUC as it moves towards meeting our accreditation standards, so that its future graduates can join the UK veterinary profession.”

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