A month before Xmas 2024, various news organisations started to report on an RCVS accreditation visit to Cambridge University’s Vet School. Most pieces cherry-picked the,
, in a fashion calculated to engage with their readers.
The BBC concentrated on accusations of racism,
the Telegraph on animal and student welfare,
and the Guardian was worried about ‘ethical concerns’.
Vet Surgeon.org went with “Cambridge University Vet School given 10 months to pull its socks up”!
It was Varsity that highlighted the issue: If the school loses its accreditation and can no longer teach Vets, what happens to the students and staff, and indeed, what is the future of the entire department?
Varsity reports;
“In an email sent to all veterinary students on Monday, Professor Mark Holmes, the head of department, said that the RCVS had graded the course with “conditional accreditation.” This means that the department risks losing its accreditation entirely, unless it improves its “provision of education”.
The RCVS will visit the department again in September next year. If the course has not then made “significant progress,” it will be downgraded to “terminal accreditation” status.”
Varsity goes on to explain;
“Were this accreditation be awarded, the RCVS “would reserve the right” to strip the course of its accreditation entirely. Graduating students would then not automatically be awarded membership of the RCVS, and unable to practise as vets unless they passed a supplementary exam.”
In a piece on November 29 in Varsity Sophie Denny, and Felix Armstrong report that students could be transferred to other universities to complete their studies.
More worrying for Staff at the Vet School, Varsity goes on to state;
“In a letter sent from Academic Secretary Dr Michael Glover to Professor Mark Holmes, Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine, on November 14, it was revealed that “the current business plan for the delivery of clinical services was not viable and that the recurrent deficit of more than £1M could not be sustained”.
The letter also stated that “the General Board has given consideration to the possibility of closing the VetMB course to new entrants from 2026”. An email sent to admissions tutors on Monday (25/11), seen by Varsity, also states that “a decision has been taken that no deferred offers should be made for entry in 2026”.
The Veterinary School has been asked to provide a response to Dr Glover’s letter in the form of a “‘letter of intent’ for the General Board to consider at its meeting on the 18th of December”.
This letter of intent should “outline a commitment to take forward work to develop an alternative option for clinical course delivery in partnership with one or more other clinical providers, or to indicate that this effort will not be pursued.”
Acknowledging the short time-frame given to respond to the letter, Glover explained that “the Board is anxious to bring clarity to the way forward as soon as possible.”