Free equine nutrition course launched
University of Edinburgh's Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies has announced a new five-week equine nutrition course.
Lasting for five weeks the course will cover many aspects of equine nutrition, such as anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal tract, and the dietary management of horses and ponies affected by nutrition-related disorders. 10,000 people have already signed up for the course, which begins at the end of the month.
This course forms part of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which are delivered via the Coursera partnership, a network of leading international universities which offer short undergraduate level online courses for free. The initiative will give participants a taste of higher education for free.
The Royal Dick School is the first Vet School to launch a course as part of this programme. The University of Edinburgh is also the first in the UK to join the Coursera initiative, and are offering six courses in total.
"Students who participate in these free online taster courses at the University of Edinburgh will have access to an array of quality materials provided by world class academics who are leaders in their field." says Dr Jo-Anne Murray, director of taught postgraduate programmes and e-learning at Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies.
Across 43 courses, more than 1.5 million people have enrolled on courses associated with Coursera. The participating universities have taught more than 650,000 students from 190 countries.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
