BVetMS Veterinary Medicine and Surgery

The undergraduate degree in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (BVetMS) is a contemporary and exciting curriculum, meeting the RCVS Day One Competences and also developing a wider range of professional attributes.

The course is delivered by the Harper & Keele Veterinary School .

• About the course (including module information and entry requirements)
• How to apply (including the student selection process)

About the Harper & Keele Veterinary School

Veterinary careers are varied across the clinical and non-clinical sectors. Practising vets can focus on companion, equine, exotics or farm animal clinical work and their related specialisms where advances in animal science and technology are transforming both disease prevention and treatment. But career options in the non-clinical veterinary sector are also growing – with exciting avenues opening up in industry, education, research, business and innovation and working collaboratively across animal and human health.

A changing industry demands that the vets of tomorrow graduate with not only first-rate clinical skills but a broader set of capabilities. They need to be good communicators with a sound understanding of business and the growing importance of data science and technology in their roles. They also need to be confident and resilient first-opinion practitioners – who have benefited during their studies from access to a wide variety of placements in clinical practice and related veterinary industries. Finally, vets must recognise the varied roles they must play, sometimes as leaders of clinical teams, others as business advisors on animal health, welfare, and productivity. Vets must also be cognisant of the wide social connections they have either in supporting pet owners with difficult financial and ethical decisions but also farmers with wider sustainability considerations in relation to livestock production.

These factors have combined to lead to the creation of a unique and agile model for a vet school that meets the challenges of today’s veterinary industry. Harper Adams has a strong pedigree in animal sciences, veterinary nursing, veterinary physiotherapy and agricultural sustainability, whilst Keele has a long history in the life sciences and human medicine. Between them, they have 186 years of heritage in the combined animal, human and environmental health (one health) education sector.

Both institutions are well recognised for their strength in employability, student satisfaction and first-class teaching. Both are now focused on expertise in critical areas for the veterinary profession – sustainability, data science and innovation. The unique two-centre School provides students with the opportunity to take advantage of two institutions with not only a common commitment to excellence but also complementary skill sets and resources.

The Vet School is predicated on a community model of clinical education, whereby university-based teaching from research-active and teaching specialist staff is complemented by a range of vet practice and related vet industry partners. The latter affords vet students opportunities to spend prolonged periods of time in authentic veterinary workplace settings, better preparing them for a smooth transition to their early careers. This also offers students multiple opportunities to spend time with very many mentors working in the widest range of professional settings. The partnership network underpinning this model is critical to our vet school and is highly integrated in ensuring the best contemporary veterinary education.

Gateway courses

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), has highlighted the importance of opening up the veterinary profession to a more representative, diverse body of vets. The Harper and Keele Veterinary School recognises that some potentially strong, academically able future vets have been being discouraged from aspiring to the profession by lack of access to work experience opportunities and/or the fierce competition for vet school places. Mindful of this, both institutions are developing alternative routes to enter the School in the form of Year 0 and Foundation options.

Options offered at Harper Adams University are:

• A foundation year programme in Veterinary Bioscience (With Access to Veterinary Medicine)
  This programme provides a preparatory year of study before students are assessed for access to the BVetMS degree. Students must achieve a minimum pass rate of 70% in year zero and pass the Multi-Mini Interview assessment, as required by all vet school candidates. Up to 10 places are available on this programme each year.
• Access via other related degrees
  Students currently completing year 1 of the following awards at Harper Adams, with a minimum pass rate of 70% and subject to results of the Multi-Mini Interview assessment, can also progress on to the BVetMS. Up to 5 students will be accepted for transfer into Year 1 of the vet school on this basis. Candidates will be ranked by performance and the top five will be eligible to progress.
  • Animal Science routes
  • Veterinary Nursing routes
  • Veterinary Physiotherapy routes
  • Zoology routes

Accreditation

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) quality assures veterinary degrees at UK vet schools by means of specific accreditation standards. Graduates from accredited schools join the RCVS Register as members allowing them to practice veterinary surgery in the UK.

Keele University, Harper Adams University and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons are working together to ensure that the new degree meets these standards and that graduates will be eligible for registration. Under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, veterinary degrees must have a “recognition order” from the Privy Council before graduates can automatically be eligible for registration with the RCVS.

The Privy Council will take advice from the RCVS on this. The process takes a number of years as full approval cannot be considered until after the RCVS undertakes a formal inspection of the full course and its standards in 2025 when the first cohort of students will have completed their degrees.

Until that time, the School is liaising regularly with the RCVS to ensure that progress towards accreditation is maintained.

Should any unforeseen issues arise, the Veterinary Surgeons Act includes a provision to help ensure that those completing their final exams in an as-yet-unapproved degree may still be allowed to register, in that the Privy Council may invite the RCVS to set examinations for any students attending a non-approved UK veterinary degree course, or alternatively appoint RCVS External Examiners to oversee the standard of the final year examinations. Students who pass the RCVS-controlled examinations would then be able to register with the RCVS and practise as veterinary surgeons in the UK, regardless of the outcome of the degree’s accreditation process. This is in line with the arrangements for any new veterinary degree programmes.