Student selection claims branded “insulting”
The VSCAC are concerned that claims about veterinary school admissions may potentially worsen the recruitment situation.
Claims that veterinary schools are not selecting the “right” sort of people have been branded by the Veterinary Schools Council Admission Committee (VSCAC) as “insulting” and “demoralising”.
In a letter to Veterinary Times, the committee writes: ‘Considerable discussion has been held about the perceived difficulty of recruiting and retaining UK veterinary graduates in practice, with some claiming the root cause of this is a failure of the veterinary schools’ admissions processes to select the ‘right’ sort of people to study and practise veterinary medicine.
‘We are writing to you, as members of the Veterinary Schools Council’s admissions committee, to express our concerns about such claims. We are concerned they are insulting to UK graduates, and demoralising to current students and prospective applicants. As such, they may potentially worsen the situation.’
The letter has been signed by representatives from the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham and the RVC. It highlights some of the many pressures young professionals face today, such as the high cost of housing, student debt and the uncertainty around retirement.
‘All things considered, we should not be surprised if vets change career direction for the good of their own welfare and their families’ future,’ it adds.’We believe the discussion should be reframed.’
‘Veterinary graduates are bright and skilled, and employers must continually strive to retain them in the face of other career options - they cannot be taken for granted.’
It continued: ‘Whether we produce enough vets is a perfectly valid question, but we should provide those who enter the profession with support and reward to keep them there, rather than ill-conceived criticism of their perceived shortcomings’.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
