Cornell link is cornerstone for veterinary course
- Partnership with world-class school is central to success of CityU BVM, offering extramural studies and placements to give students vital ‘hands-on’ experience
The need to set up a dairy farm in Tai Po was one of the many challenges City University of Hong Kong (CityU) faced in its decade-long campaign to introduce a bachelor of veterinary medicine (BVM).
But each potential problem was overcome in turn, and the six-year programme is now successfully up and running and preparing to welcome its third intake in September next year.
The curriculum was designed to include courses of particular relevance to the Asia-Pacific region, arranged around the themes of animal welfare, aquatic animal health, food safety and emerging infectious diseases. Along the way, students must also meet CityU’s general “gateway education” requirements. In due course they will be expected to meet the accreditation standards set by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to practise professionally.
However, the real cornerstone of the curriculum is the four-year Cornell University veterinary medicine programme and the prerequisites it entails.
“Our main strength lies in our partnership with Cornell which, in this discipline, is among the very top schools in the world,” says Dr Howard Wong, CityU’s director (professional development and communications), speaking about the university’s Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences.
“Besides coursework, it means students will have to attend 26 weeks of clinical extramural studies (EMS) and complete 12 weeks of animal husbandry placements during term breaks. This gives them the necessary practical experience of farming operations and veterinary practice locally, regionally and further afield.”