Concerns over the availability of specialist teaching staff for a new vet school have been raised by a group of vets as an announcement on the provision of additional third-level veterinary medicine places is expected next month.
Co. Clare-based large-animal vet, Dr. Jimmy Quinn of the Working Group for Reform in Irish Veterinary Education told Agriland that any new vet school will “struggle” to attract specialist staff teaching veterinary medicine.
University College Dublin (UCD) currently offers the only programme in veterinary medicine, with University of Limerick (UL), Atlantic Technological University (ATU), and South East Technological University (SETU) in the run to host a new vet school.
There is, however, a “severe shortage” of veterinary teaching staff, particularly in areas like anatomy and pathology, according to Quinn who believes the potential announcement of more than one new vet school would not be a “good idea”.
Vet school
Dr. Quinn said the group continues to back UL in its bid to offer a new programme in veterinary medicine which proposes an intake of 90 students per year in partnership with the Salesian Agricultural College in Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick.
UL is the “only candidate site” for a new vet school that ranks in the top 150 universities in Europe and the top 500 universities in the world, according to Dr. Quinn who added that SETU and ATU are not ranked and will therefore be less likely to attract specialist staff.
The group representative said one of the first things any modern academic staff will look at when choosing an institution is its world ranking as their career prospects and advancements will be “directly linked” to that ranking.
SETU proposes a distributed model of clinical teaching, where students will complete their clinical rotations in private practices, in collaboration with its partner site located at Teagasc Kildalton Agricultural College, Co. Kilkenny.
Dr. Mary-Kate Burke, a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, was recently appointed SETU’s Veterinary Medicine Programme Development Lead. Dr. Burke has “extensive experience” in both veterinary clinical practice and veterinary education.
In a statement to Agriland, Dr. Burke said there has been “great interest” in opportunities to teach on SETU’s proposed veterinary programme from veterinary surgeons and veterinary academics locally and internationally.
ATU plans to deliver a full-time, undergraduate programme in veterinary medicine which will have a dual campus delivery model between ATU Donegal and ATU Mountbellew, building on existing expertise and facilities within the university.
In a statement to Agriland, ATU said specialist teaching staff will be an “integral requirement” for the delivery of a veterinary medicine programme at ATU for which it will engage in a national and international recruitment campaign to secure suitably qualified staff.
ATU said its bid to establish a new programme in veterinary medicine “has already attracted expressions of interest from academics globally”, and it is “confident” that it will succeed in securing a “world-class team” to deliver the programme.
Announcement
Dr. Quinn said the group of over 20 small-companion animal and large-animal vets has recently been told by Taoiseach Simon Harris that an announcement on additional veterinary medicine places will be made after the Dáil recess in September.
While it has been identified by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in June 2023 that, with investment, an additional 230 vets could be trained every year, the government is yet to announce which institution will receive funding.
The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said it continues to “work closely” with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) “in relation to the funding of expanded veterinary provision”.
The Clare-based large-animal vet, however, told Agriland “everyone seems to be a bit puzzled about this announcement next month because a lot of the groundwork doesn’t seem to be in place to allow much to be announced”.